UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORN  A,  SAN  DIEGO 


3  1822019442714 


AN  ;.  .  ..'.  ;TY 

ARYLAND 


i 


UNIVERSITY  OF  CAUFORN A   SAN I  DIEGO 


3  1822019442714 


Central  University  Library 

University  of  California,  San  Diego 
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HISTORY 


OF  THE 


^ortrtg  of 


JOHN    STRICKER 


HISTORY 


OF  THE 


iij  of  IHarglmtd 


COMPILED    BY 

LOUIS  P.  HENNIGHAUSEN 


READ   AT  THE  MEETINGS   OF 

THE    SOCIETY   FOR    THE    HISTORY   OF 
THE  GERMANS  IN  MARYLAND 


1909 


For  Sale  by 

W.  E.  C.  Harrison  £&  Sons,  Booksellers  and  Stationers 

214  E.  Baltimore  Street,  Baltimore,  Md. 

1909 


Copyright,  1909,  by 
Louis  P.  Hennighausen 


Press  of 

The  Sun  Job  Printing  Office 
Baltimore 


HISTORY 

OF  THE 

<g*rmatt  Swiet    0f 


The  history  of  "The  German  Society  of  Maryland" 
will  be  more  interesting  and  better  understood  by  some 
knowledge  of  the  formation  and  histories  of  similar  soci- 
eties in  other  Atlantic  ports  of  North  America  during  the 
eighteenth  century,  who  still  continue  their  noble  work 
of  charity  at  the  present  time.  They  came  into  existence 
during  the  years  of  1764  to  1784  in  the  cities  of  Phila- 
delphia, Pa. ;  Charleston,  South  Carolina ;  Baltimore, 
Maryland,  and  New  York,  with  the  object  to  assist  Ger- 
man immigrants  in  distress  and  to  mitigate  and  finally  to 
abolish  a  pernicious  system  of  contract  labor  of  free  white 
persons,  which  in  reality  became  a  system  of  slavery 
limited  in  years.  We  find  that  most  of  the  laws  govern- 
ing the  conduct  of  negro  slaves,  were  in  the  course  of  time 
made  applicable  to  the  white  contract  immigrant  laborers 
usually  called  "Redemptioners." 

There  is  an  erroneous  impression  that  these  redemp- 
tioners  were  all  Germans,  when,  in  fact,  persons  of  all 
nationalities  were  kept  under  that  bondage.  For  many 
years  English,  Irish  and  Scotch  had  preceded  them,  and 
the  earliest  German  immigrants  to  our  country  were  free 
settlers  who  paid  for  their  passage  and  for  their  home- 
steads. 


6  HISTORY  OF  THE 

It  is  to  the  everlasting  credit  to  these  early  German 
immigrants  and  their  descendants  that  they  were  the  first 
and,  as  far  as  known  to  the  author,  the  only  men  who 
combined  to  mitigate  and  at  last  to  free  their  poor  fellow 
immigrants  from  the  thraldom  of  this  bondage. 

THEIR  PATRIOTISM  AS  AMERICANS. 

Nor  did  these  early  settlers  who  formed  these  societies 
confine  themselves  to  mere  humanitarian  work,  building 
churches,  schools,  orphanages,  etc.,  they  were  also  pa- 
triotic, public-spirited  citizens.  When  the  colonies  rose 
to  throw  off  the  English  yoke  in  the  years  1776  to  1782, 
they  took  an  active  part  in  the  war  for  the  independence 
of  our  country.  Every  one  of  these  large  German  soci- 
eties elected  men  as  their  officers,  who  rendered  or  had 
rendered  voluntary  jmilitary  service  in  the  American  arm y 
during  the  Revolutionary  War. 

General  F.  W.  Von  Steuben,  Col.  H.  E.  Lutterloh, 
Lieut.  Col.  F.  H.  von  Weisenfels,  of  New  York ;  General 
Peter  Mtihlenberg,  Fr.  A.  Miihlenberg,  the  first  speaker 
of  the  House  of  Congress ;  Col.  Ludwig  Farmer,  of  Penn- 
sylvania; Major  Michael  Kalteisen,  Commander  of  Fort 
Johnson,  Charleston,  South  Carolina;  Major  Karl  Fried- 
rich  Wiesenthal,  M.  D.,  of  Baltimore,  Maryland,  were 
all  distinguished  officers  of  the  War  of  Independence,  and 
served  as  presidents  of  the  several  German  societies  in 
their  respective  states. 

An  interesting  full  history  of  the  German  Society  of 
Pennsylvania  was  published  by  the  historian,  Dr.  Oswald 
Seidenstricker,  Philadelphia,  1876;  the  history  of  the  New 


GERMAN  SOCIETY  OF  MARYLAND  7 

York  Society  by  Anton  Eickhoff,  in  his  "Der  Neuen 
Heimath,"  E.  Steiger  and  Company,  New  York,  1884. 
The  history  of  the  German  Society  of  Charleston,  South 
Carolina,  has  to  my  knowledge  never  been  published  or 
written.  I  have  therefore  given  it  more  space  in  this 
work  and  made  use  of  information  furnished  by  its  officer 
from  the  records ;  and  of  the  historical  sketches  by  Gen- 
eral J.  A.  Wagner,  published  in  Deutsche  Pioneer,  Cincin- 
nati, 1871,  p.  2  and  36;  The  Germans  in  Colonial  Times 
by  Lucy  Forney  Bittinger,  J.  P.  Lippencott  Co.,  Philadel- 
phia, 1901 ;  Koerner's  Deutsche  Element,  1880,  A.  E. 
Wilde  and  Company,  Cincinnati.  The  history  of  the 
German  Society  of  Maryland  is  taken  from  the  original 
records  of  the  society,  the  earliest  records  up  to  the  year 
1817  being  lost,  and  of  later  records  partly  destroyed  by 
the  great  fire  of  1904,  also  from  contemporaneous  publi- 
cations, newspaper  and  manuscripts,  many  legislative 
acts,  law  reports,  personal  conversation  with  old  persons 
who  had  been  redemptioners,  letters,  etc.,  etc.,  relating  to 
the  redemptioners. 

A  redemptioner  was  a  person  from  Europe,  desirous, 
and  often  induced  and  persuaded  to  emigrate  to  the  Eng- 
lish colonies  of  North  America,  to  better  his  condition, 
and  had  not  the  means  to  pay  for  his  passage. 

The  owners  and  captains  of  an  emigrant  vessel  to  these 
colonies  were  willing  to  take  such  persons  across,  if  the 
persons,  and  if  minors,  the  parents  or  guardians  for  them, 
would  sign  a  contract :  that  on  their  arrival  they  would 
pay  for  the  passage,  by  the  captain  hiring  them  as  ser- 
vants for  a  term  of  years  to  masters  willing  to  pay  the 
wages  in  advance  to  the  amount  of  the  passage  money. 


8  HISTORY  OF  THE 

In  law  this  was  known  as  an  apprenticeship,  or  service 
entered  into  by  a  free  person,  voluntary,  by  contract  for  a 
term  of  years,  on  wages  advanced  before  the  service  was 
entered,  and  a  violation  of  the  contract  by  the  servant  was 
punished  by  corporal  punishment  and  imprisonment. 
The  servants,  by  performing  the  service,  were  redeeming 
themselves  and  therefore  called  "Redemptioners."  Vari- 
ous laws  were  passed  from  time  to  time  in  the  several 
colonies,  intended  for  their  protection  and  defining  their 
status  with  their  masters.  By  an  act  of  the  assembly  of 
Maryland,  passed  in  1638,  the  term  of  service  of  a  re- 
demptioner  was  limited  to  four  years,  but  by  the  act 
passed  in  the  year  1715,  all  servants  above  the  age  of 
twenty-five  years  were  to  serve  five  years ;  those  between 
the  ages  of  eighteen  and  twenty-five  years  to  serve  six 
years ;  those  between  the  age  of  fifteen  to  eighteen  years 
to  serve  seven  years  and  all  below  fifteen  years  up  to  their 
twenty-second  year. 

A  so-called  custom  of  the  country  grew  up  to  give  to 
the  servant  at  the  expiration  of  his  service  a  reward, 
which  was  in  1637  (Md.  Archives,  case  of  Henry 
Spinks)  judicially  ascertained  to  be:  One  cap  or  hat, 
one  new  cloth  or  frieze  suit,  one  shirt,  one  pair  of  shoe^ 
and  stockings,  one  ax,  one  broad  and  one  narrow  hoe, 
fifty  acres  of  land  and  three  barrels  of  corn,  which  Henry 
Spinks  was  adjudged  to  be  entitled  to  out  of  the  estate  of 
his  deceased  master,  Nicholas  Harvey. 

Redermptioners  came  or  were  sent  to  Virginia  and  later 
to  Maryland  from  their  first  settlements.  The  first 
settlers  had  taken  possession  of  and  were  granted  large 
tracts  of  rich,  virgin  soil,  but  there  were  no  laborers  to 


GERMAN  SOCIETY  OF  MARYLAND  9 

cultivate  it.  England,  to  foster  the  value  of  her  new 
colonies,  transported  her  prisoners  of  war,  taken  in  the 
insurrections  of  the  Scots  and  Irish,  to  America  to  be  sold 
as  redeimptioners ;  the  city  of  London,  at  one  time,  sent  a 
hundred  homeless  children  from  its  streets.  In  1672,  the 
average  price  in  the  colonies  for  a  full  term  of  a  redemp  - 
tioner  was  about  ten  pounds,  while  an  African  negro  slave 
for  life  was  worth  twenty  or  twenty-five  pounds.*  So 
it  appears  the  master  obtained  the  services  of  a  white 
person  for  five  years  at  less  than  ten  dollars  a  year  wages, 
and  the  captain  of  the  ship,  who  transported  the  redemp  - 
tioner,  received  .nearly  fifty  dollars'  passage  money,  a 
most  profitable  venture  on  part  of  the  captain  and  master, 
but  as  hereafter  will  be  read,  a  most  wretched,  unprofit- 
able venture  on  part  of  the  redemptioner. 

In  most  cases,  according  to  the  temper  and  character  of 
the  master  and  intelligence  and  obedience  of  the  servant, 
these  servants  were  well  treated,  but  it  was  mere  good 
luck  if  they  came  into  the  hands  of  kind,  human  masters. 
Many  of  these  servants,  after  serving  their  time,  became 
prosperous  and  even  wealthy  citizens.  It  was  no  dis- 
grace to  be  or  to  have  been  a  servant,  and  intermarriage* 
between  masters  and  servants  were  not  of  rare  occurrence. 
There  are  instances  on  record  where  school  teachers,  and 
even  ministers  of  the  gospel,  were  in  this  manner  bought 
by  congregations  to  render  their  services  in  their  re- 
spective offices. 

The  Reverend  Samuel  Schwerdfeger,  a  native  of  Neu- 
stadt  in  Bavaria,  a  graduate  of  the  University  of  Er- 
langen  in  the  studies  of  theology  and  law,  when  twenty- 

*Bancroft's  History,  Vol.  i,  p.  125 


io  HISTORY  OF  THE 

four  years  of  age,  and  very  poor,  fell  into  the  hands  ot 
emigrant  runners,  who  shipped  him  as  a  redemptioner  to 
Baltimore.  He  arrived  here  in  the  spring  of  the  yeat 
1753,  and  was  offered  as  "a  studiosus  theologian"  for  sale 
for  a  term  of  years  to  pay  for  his  passage.  The  Lutheran 
Congregation  of  York,  Pennsylvania,  being  at  the  time 
at  loggerheads  with  their  good  old  Pastor,  Rev.  Schaum, 
heard  of  this  bargain  and  concluded  to  buy  Rev.  Schwerd- 
feger  as  their  pastor.  He  remained  at  York  until  1758 
joined  the  Lutheran  Synod  of  Pennsylvania,  and  was  sent 
by  the  synod  as  pastor  to  Frederick,  Maryland.  A 
learned  apothecary  was  sold  in  Baltimore  as  a  redemp- 
tioner. 

Whilst  this  is  the  bright  side  of  the  redemptioners'  life, 
it  had  also  a  very  dark  side.  The  redemptioners  on  their 
arrival  here  were  not  allowed  to  choose  their  masters  nor 
kind  of  service  most  suitable  to  them.  They  wrere  often 
separated  from  their  famliy;  the  wife  from  the  husband, 
and  children  from  their  parents,  were  disposed  of  for 
the  term  of  years,  often  at  public  sale  to  masters  living  far 
apart,  and  always  to  the  greatest  advantage  of  the  ship- 
per. There  are  many  reports  of  the  barbarous  treatment 
they  received,  how  they  were  literally  worked  to  death, 
receiving  insufficient  food,  scanty  clothing  and  poor  lodg- 
ing. Cruel  punishments  were  inflicted  on  them  for  slight 
offences  when  they  were  at  the  mercy  of  a  hard  and  brutal 
master.  Their  fellow  black  slave  was  often  treated  bet- 
ter, for  he  was  a  slave  for  life,  and  it  was  in  the  interest 
of  the  master  to  treat  hmi  well  to  preserve  him,  whilst 
the  poor  redemptioner  was  a  slave  for  a  number  of  years 


GERMAN  SOCIETY  OF  MARYLAND  n 

only,  and  all  his  vital  force  was  worked  out  of  him  during 
the  years  of  his  service. 

As  with  many  masters  these  servants  were  treated  alike, 
and  had  to  live  in  common  with  and  among  their  negro 
slaves,  it  happened  that  some  of  the  white  female  re- 
demptioners  cohabited  and  intermarried  with  the  negro 
slaves  and  gave  birth  to  mulatto  children.  This  became 
a  great  offence  to  the  better  portion  of  the  society  of  the 
colony,  and  to  remedy  this  evil  the  general  assembly  of 
Maryland  in  1663,  chapter  30,  passed  a  most  curious,  but 
also  one  of  the  most  abominable  laws  which  ever  dis- 
graced the  legislative  code  of  even  a  slave  state.  It  reads 
as  follows : 

AN  ACT  CONCERNING  NEGRO  AND  OTHER  SLAVES. 

Section  i.  Be  it  enacted  by  the  right  honorable  the  Lord 
Proprietary,  by  the  advice  and  consent  of  the  Upper  and 
Lower  Houses  of  this  present  assembly,  that  all  negro  or 
other  slaves  within  the  Province,  and  all  negro  and  other 
slaves  to  be  hereafteer  imported  into  the  Province,  shall 
serve  durante  vita,  and  all  children  born  of  any  negro  or 
other  slave,  shall  be  slaves  as  their  fathers  were  for  the 
term  of  their  lives. 

Sec.  2.  And  for  as  much  as  divers  free  born  English 
women  forgetful  of  their  free  condition  and  to  the  disgrace 
of  our  nation,  do  intermarry  with  negro  slaves,  by  which 
also  divers  suits  may  arise  touching  the  issue  of  such 
women,  and  a  great  damage  both  befall  the  master  of  such 
negroes,  for  prevention  whereof,  for  deterring  such  free 
born  women  from  such  shameful  matches,  be  it  further 
enacted  by  the  authority,  advice  and  consent  aforesaid,  that 
whatsoever  free  born  woman  shall  intermarry  with  any 


12  HISTORY  OF  THE 

slave,  from  and  after  the  last  day  of  this  present  assembly, 
shall  serve  the  master  of  such  slave  during  the  life  of  her 
husband,  and  that  all  the  issue  of  such  free  born  woman  so 
married  shall  be  slaves  as  their  fathers  were. 

This  law  was  in  violation  of  the  ancient  maxim  that  the 
children  of  a  free  woman,  the  father  being  a  slave,  follow 
the  status  of  their  mother  and  are  free.  In  Maryland 
therefore,  the  only  State  I  believe  that  ever  enacted  sucn 
a  law,  the  child  was  a  slave  when  either  father  or  mother 
was  a  slave.  So  the  presumption  was  always  in  favor  of 
slavery.  We  must  assume  that  this  law  \vas  honestl) 
intended  to  prevent  future  marriages  between  white 
women  and  negro  slaves,  but  these  honest  legislators 
little  knew  and  understood  the  cupidity  and  depravity  of 
human  nature.  For,  instead  of  having  this  effect,  many 
of  the  owners  of  white  female  redemptioners  purposely 
intermarried  them  with  their  negro  slave  men,  and  thereby 
legally  secured  the  white  female  redemptioners  as  slaves, 
and  also  their  children.  This  seems  to  have  been  don^ 
extensively.  In  1681,  however,  a  case  occurred  which 
led  to  the  speedy  repeal  of  this  law.  In  the  spring  of  that 
year  Lord  Baltimore  came  on  a  visit  to  his  Province  of 
Maryland.  Among  his  servants  he  brought  with  him  an 
Irish  maid  servant,  named  "Nellie."  She  was  a  redemp- 
tioner.  Lord  Baltimore  soon  returned  to  England,  and 
Nellie  was  sold  for  the  unexpired  term  of  her  service  to 
a  resident  of  the  colony.  Within  two  months  thereafter 
the  new  master  of  Nellie  married  her  to  his  negro  slave 
Butler,  and  thereby  made  her  his  slave,  and  her  children 
also  became  his  slaves  under  the  operation  of  the  law. 
Lord  Baltimore,  hearing  of  this,  became  very  indignant. 


GERMAN  SOCIETY  OF  MARYLAND  13 

and  immediately  secured  the  repeal  of  this  horrible  law 
and  the  enactment  of  a  new  law,  which  effectually  did 
prevent  future  marriages  of  white  female  redemptioners 
with  negro  slaves.  The  preamble  of  the  new  law  is 
especially  instructive  to  show  us  the  condition  of  these 
poor  female  redemptioners.  It  reads : 

"And  for  as  much  as  divers  free  born  English  or  white 
women  sometimes  by  the  instigation,  procurement  or  con- 
nivance of  their  masters,  mistresses  or  dames,  and  always 
to  the  satisfaction  of  their  lascivious  and  lustful  desires,  and 
to  the  disgrace  not  only  of  the  English  but  also  of  many 
other  Christian  notions,  do  intermarry  with  negroes  and 
slaves,  by  which  means  divers  inconveniences,  controver- 
sies and  suits  may  arise,  touching  the  issue  or  children  of 
such  free  born  women  aforesaid,  for  the  prevention  whereof 
for  the  future,  be  it  further  enacted,  &c.,  That  if  any  mas- 
ter, mistress  or  dame,  having  any  free  born  English  or  white 
woman  servant  as  said  in  their  possession  or  property,  shall 
by  any  instigation,  procurement,  knowledge,  permission  or 
contrivance  whatsoever,  suffer  any  such  free  born  English 
or  white  woman  servant  in  their  possession,  and  wherein 
they  have  property  as  aforesaid,  to  intermarry  or  contract 
in  matrimony  with  any  slave  from  and  after  the  last  day 
of  this  present  assembly,  that  then  their  said  master,  mis- 
tress or  dame,  of  any  such  free  born  woman  as  aforesaid, 
shall  forfeit  and  lose  all  their  claim  and  title  to  the  service 
and  servitude  of  any  such  free  born  woman ;  and  also  the 
said  woman  servant  so  married,  shall  be,  and  is  by  this 
present  act,  absolutely  discharged,  manumitted  and  made 
free,  instantly  upon  her  intermarriage  as  aforesaid  from  the 
services,  employment,  use,  claim  or  demand  of  any  such 


14  HISTORY  OF  THE 

master,  mistress  or  dame  so  offending  as  aforesaid.  And 
all  children  born  of  such  free  born  woman,  so  manumitted 
and  free,  as  aforesaid,  shall  be  free  as  the  woman  aforesaid ; 
as  also  the  said  master,  mistress  or  dame  shall  forfeit  the 
sum  of  ten  thousand  pounds  of  tobacco,  one  half  thereof 
to  the  Lord  Proprietor,  and  the  other  half  to  him  or  them 
that  shall  inform  and  sue  for  the  same,  to  be  recovered  in 
any  Court  of  Record  within  this  Province  by  bill,  plaint  or 
information;  and  any  priest,  minister,  magistrate  or  other 
person,  that  shall  from  and  after  the  publication  hereof 
join  in  marriage  any  negro  or  other  slave,  to  any  English 
or  other  white  woman  servant  as  aforesaid,  shall  forfeit  and 
pay  the  sum  of  ten  thousand  pounds  of  tobacco,  &c." 

The  passage  of  this  law  did  not,  however,  set  poor 
Nellie  free,  nor  liberate  her  two  sons,  for  they  in  1721 
petitioned  for  their  freedom,  but  the  Court  of  Appeals  ot 
Maryland  (Harris  and  McHenry  Reports,  case  of  "But- 
ler vs.  Boarmann'')  decided  that  Nellie  having  been  mar- 
ried to  the  negro  slave  Butler  before  the  passage  of  the 
law  of  1 68 1,  she  as  well  as  her  after  born  children  were 
slaves. 

In  the  first  half  century  of  the  British  colonies  the  pro  • 
portion  of  negro  slaves  to  the  white  inhabitants  ;vas  small. 
Virginia  in  1650  contained  but  one  black  to  fifty  white 
inhabitants  (Bancroft  Hist.,  Vol.  i,  p.  126)  and  Mary- 
land still  less.  The  white  immigration  could  not  supply 
the  increasing  want  of  farm  laborers  and  the  number  of 
black  slaves  increased  rapidly.  It  was  then  that  the  re- 
clemptioner  lost  caste  in  the  colonies  south  of  Pennsyl- 
vania. Laws  were  enacted  in  Maryland,  Virginia,  North 
and  South  Carolina,  placing  him  in  some  respects  on  a 


GERMAN  SOCIETY  OF  MARYLAND  15 

level  with  the  negro  slave.  In  Maryland  he  could  not 
purchase  nor  sell  anything  without  the  permission  of  the 
master.  If  caught  ten  miles  away  from  home  without 
written  permission  of  his  master,  he  was  liable  to  be  takea 
up  as  a  runaway,  and  severely  punished.  The  person 
who  harbored  a  runaway  was  fined  500  pounds  of  tobacco 
for  each  twenty-four  hours,  and  to  be  whipped  if  unable 
to  pay  the  fine.  There  was  a  standing  reward  of  200 
pounds  of  tobacco  for  capturing  runaways,  and  the  In- 
dians received  for  every  captured  runaway  they  turned 
in  a  "miatch  coat."  For  every  day's  absence  from  work, 
ten  days  were  added  to  his  time  of  servitude.  The  master 
had  the  right  to  whip  his  redemptioner  for  any  real  or 
imaginary  offence,  provided  he  gave  him  no  more  than 
ten  lashes  for  each  offence,  which  must  have  been  a  very 
difficult  matter  to  determine,  for  offences  may  be  multi- 
plied. The  laws  also  provided  for  his  protection.  For 
excessively  cruel  punishment  the  master  should  be  fined 
and  the  redemptioner  set  free.  I  presume  in  most  cases 
this  was  only  effective  when  the  redemptioner  had  in- 
fluential friends  who  would  take  up  his  case. 

No  public  records  wjere  kept  of  the  contracts  entered 
into  abroad  by  the  redemptioners,  nor  of  the  time  of  the 
expiration  of  their  service.  The  redemptioners  were  not 
furnished  with  duplicates  of  their  contracts.  They  were 
sometimes,  and  could  be,  mortgaged,  hired  out  for  a 
shorter  period,  sold  and  transferred,  like  chattel,  by  their 
masters.  (Md.  Archives,  1637-50,  pag.  132,  486).  The 
redemptioners  belonging  to  the  poor  and  most  of  them 
to  the  ignorant  class,  it  is  apparent  that  under  these  condi- 
tions they  were  at  a  great  disadvantage  against  a  ra- 


16  HISTORY  OF  THE 

pacious  master  who  kept  them  in  servitude  after  the  ex- 
piration of  their  true  contract  time,  claiming  their  services 
for  a  longer  period. 

For  many  years  the  redemptioner  had  come  princi- 
pally from  England,  Ireland  and  Scotland.  The  grow- 
ing abuses  of  the  system  having  become  known  in  Eng- 
land, rigorous  laws  and  measures  were  adopted  and  en- 
forced in  England  for  their  better  protection,  and  letters 
and  articles  appeared  in  the  newspapers  warning  the  poor 
people  from  entering  these  contracts.  Public  opinion  had 
set  against  them. 

THE  GERMAN  REDEMPTIONERS. 

The  great  German  immigration  commenced  with  the 
landing  of  the  German  Quaker  in  Germantown,  1683,  in 
Pennsylvania;  the  Labadist,  1684,  m  Maryland;  the 
Palatinates,  1709,  in  New  York;  the  Menonites,  1717  to 
1727,  in  Pennsylvania;  the  Tunkers,  1719,  and  Schwenk- 
felders,  1730  to  1734,  in  Pennsylvania;  the  Salzburgers, 
1734,  in  Georgia;  1735  to  I745>  ^e  South  Germans  in 
South  Carolina,  and  1710  in  North  Carolina.  These 
were  organized  German  immigrations  under  leaders.  Not 
a  single  redemptioner  is  reported  from  among  them. 
Nor  do  we  find  that  any  of  the  1,060  Germans  who  arrived 
in  the  years  1753  to  January,  1755  (earliest  and  later 
records  missing)  at  Annapolis,  Maryland,  were  sold  as 
redemptioners.  Hon.  Cecilius  Calvert,  acting  Pro- 
prietary of  Maryland  during  the  minority  of  Frederick, 
Sixth  Lord  of  Baltimore,  in  a  letter  sent  from  London  to 
the  authorities  in  Annapolis  recommends : 


GERMAN  SOCIETY  OF  MARYLAND  17 

''That  these  emigrants  may  be  assisted  and  accommodated 
in  a  proper  manner  to  Monocacy  (which  he  understood  to 
be  in  Frederick  County)  or  where  else  they  shall  want  to 
go  to  settle  within  the  Province.  The  charges  for  any  serv- 
ice to  be  in  the  most  moderate  manner.  The  increase  of 
people  being  always  welcome"  (Fifth  Annual  Report  of 
History  of  Germans  in  Maryland,  p.  15). 

It  is  uncertain  when  the  first  German  redemptioner 
arrived  in  Maryland,  and  it  is  doubtful  whether  many 
arrived  here  before  the  War  of  Independence. 

As  wages  advanced  the  trade  of  shipping  redemptioners 
to  this  country  became  highly  lucrative.  Large  profits 
were  made  in  a  successful  voyage  with  a  full  cargo  of 
human  beings,  who,  on  their  arrival  here,  were  sold  to 
the  highest  bidder  for  a  term  of  years. 

The  Dutch  who  in  1620  had  sent  the  first  cargo  of 
negro  slaves  to  this  country,  and  had  amassed  great 
wealth  in  the  pursuit  of  the  negro  slave  trade  from  dis- 
tant Africa,  discovered  that  it  was  less  troublesome  and 
equally  remunerative  to  engage  in  a  sort  of  a  white  slave 
trade  by  shipping  redemptioners  from  their  own  country, 
Germany,  Switzerland  and  adjoining  countries,  to  the 
American  colonies.  The  shipping  merchants  of  Holland 
would  send  regular  agents,  or  drummers  as  we  now 
would  call  them,  who  received  one-half  of  a  doubloon  for 
every  redemptioner  shipped  by  them  into  these  colonies. 
These  agents  generally  appeared  in  gaudy  dress,  with 
flourish  of  trumpets,  and  in  glowing  language  depicted 
the  wealth  and  happiness  of  the  people  of  this  country, 
whereof  all  could  partake  if  they  only  would  come  here; 
that  they  did  not  need  any  money  for  their  passage,  as 


1 8  HISTORY  OF  THE 

all  they  had  to  do  was  to  sign  a  contract  that  on  their 
arrival  here  they  would  pay  for  the  same  out  of  their  first 
earnings.  In  this  manner  these  agents  would  travel  from 
village  to  village,  deluding  the  poorest  and  most  ignorant 
to  follow  them  to  the  new  Eldorado. 

Whenever  such  an  agent  had  collected  a  sufficient  num- 
ber, he  would  take  them  personally  to  the  shipping  harbor 
in  Holland.  It  was  a  gay  crowd  which  traveled  in  this 
manner  in  wagons  across  the  country.  The  horses  and 
wagons  were  decorated  with  gay  ribbons,  and  joyous 
songs  were  heard  from  the  emigrants,  who  believed  they 
were  leaving  toil  and  poverty  to  go  to  the  fabulously  rich 
America  to  enjoy  the  ease  and  plenty  of  this  world's 
goods.  This  spirit  was  artificially  kept  up  by  the  liber- 
ality of  the  agent  until  they  were  safely  aboard  the  ship. 
I  have  known  several  very  old  persons  living  in  Balti- 
more who  came  to  this  country  in  this  manner.  An  old 
man  related  to  me  years  ago  how  he  came  to  Baltimore 
as  a  redemptioner.  He  said :  "I  was  a  journeyman 
baker  in  a  small  town  in  Germany;  had  much  work  and 
scant  wages.  One  day  being  dissatisfied  and  in  bad 
humor  over  my  condition,  I  was  standing  at  the  door  of 
the  bakery,  when  a  well-dressed  man  passing  by  stopped 
and  said :  'What  is  the  matter,  young  man  ?  Why  so 
downhearted?'  I  told  him  my  condition.  'Why,'  said 
he,  'don't  you  go  to  America,  where  you  can  earn  plenty 
money  with  much  less  work?'  I  told  him  that  I  had 
not  the  money  to  pay  for  my  passage  across.  'You  don't 
need  any,'  said  he.  'I  will  take  you  along  if  you  want  to 
go.  You  can  pay  me  for  the  passage  over  there  out  of 
the  first  money  you  will  earn.  If  you  do  want  to  go, 


GERMAN  SOCIETY  OF  MARYLAND  19 

make  yourself  ready;  in  ten  days  I  will  pass  here  again 
with  a  wagon  full  of  emigrants  for  America,  then  you 
may  go  along.'  He  then  departed.  Without  my  boss 
knowing  anything  of  it,  I  packed  my  clothes  in  a  bundle 
and  made  ready  to  leave.  On  the  appointed  day  my 
friend  really  came  into  the  town  in  a  fine  decorated  wagon 
full  of  emigrants.  I  seized  my  bundle,  cried  a  farewell 
into  the  room  where  my  boss  with  his  family  was  sitting, 
crying  to  them,  to  their  great  astonishment,  that  I  was 
off  for  America  and  jumped  on  the  wagon.  Away  we 
went  toward  Amsterdam,  full  of  joy  and  in  the  best  of 
spirit,  till  we  were  on  board  of  the  vessel  and  had  signed 
the  contract.  Then  there  came  a  change." 

The  contract  which  these  redemptioners  had  to  sign  in 
Holland,  and  which  few  of  them  then  understood,  con- 
tained the  proviso,  that  if  any  passenger  died  on  the  voy- 
age, the  surviving  members  of  the  family,  or  the  surviving 
redemptioner  passengers  would  make  good  his  loss. 
Thereby  a  wife,  who  had  lost  her  husband  during  the  sea 
voyage,  or  her  children,  on  her  arrival  here  would  be  sold 
for  five  years  for  her  own  voyage  and  additional  five  and 
more  years  for  the  passage-money  of  her  dead  husband  or 
dead  children,  although  they  may  have  died  in  the  very 
beginning  of  the  voyage.  If  there  were  no  members  of 
the  family  surviving,  the  time  of  the  dead  was  added  to 
the  time  of  service  of  the  surviving  fellow  passengers. 
The  effects  and  property  of  the  dead  were  confiscated 
and  kept  by  the  captain.  By  this  the  shipping  merchant 
and  the  captain  of  the  vessel  would  gain  by  the  death  of  a 
part  of  the  passengers,  for  the  dead  did  not  require  any 
more  food  and  provision.  It  seems  that  many  acted  on 


2O  HISTORY  OF  THE 

this  principle.  The  ships  were  often  so  overcrowded  that 
a  part  of  the  passengers  had  to  sleep  on  deck.  Christoph 
Sauer,  in  his  petition  to  the  Governor  of  Pennsylvania  in 
1775,  asserts  that  at  times  there  were  not  more  than 
twelve  inches  room  for  each  passenger  (I  presume  he 
means  sleeping  room  below  deck),  and  but  half  sufficient 
bread  and  water.  Caspar  Wister,  of  Philadelphia,  in 
1752  writes :  Last  year  a  ship  was  twenty-four  weeks  at 
sea,  and  of  the  150  passengers  on  board  thereof,  more 
than  100  died  of  hunger  and  privation,  and  the  survivors 
were  imprisoned  and  compelled  to  pay  the  entire  passage- 
money  for  themselves  and  the  deceased.  In  this  year  ten 
ships  arrived  in  Philadelphia  with  5,000  passengers.  One 
ship  was  seventeen  weeks  at  sea  and  about  60  passengers 
thereof  died.  Christoph  Sauer,  in  1758,  estimates  that 
2,000  of  the  passengers  on  the  fifteen  ships  which  arrived 
that  year  died  during  the  voyage.  Heinrich  Keppele,  the 
first  president  of  the  German  Society  of  Pennsylvania, 
writes  in  his  diary,  that  of  the  312^2  passengers  on  board 
of  the  ship,  wherein  he  crossed  the  ocean,  250  died  during 
the  voyage.  In  February,  1745,  Christoph  Sauer  relates 
in  his  newspaper:  "Another  ship  has  arrived.  Of  the 
400  passengers  not  more  than  50  are  reported  alive. 
They  received  their  bread  every  two  weeks;  some  ate 
their  portion  in  four,  five  and  six  days,  which  should  have 
lasted  15  days.  If  they  received  no  cooked  victuals  in 
eight  days,  their  bread  gave  out  the  sooner,  and  as  they 
had  to  wait  until  the  15  days  were  over,  they  starved, 
unless  they  had  money  with  which  to  buy  of  the  mate 
flour  at  three  pence  sterling  a  pound  and  a  bottle  of  wine 
for  seven  kopstick  thalers."  Then  he  relates  how  a  man 


GERMAN  SOCIETY  OF  MARYLAND  21 

and  his  wife,  who  had  eaten  their  bread  within  eight  days, 
crawled  to  the  captain  and  begged  him  to  throw  them 
overboard  to  relieve  them  of  their  misery,  as  they  could 
not  survive  till  bread  day.  The  captain  refused  to  do  it, 
and  the  mate  in  mockery  gave  them  a  bag  rilled  with  sand 
and  coals.  The  man  and  his  wife  died  of  hunger  before 
the  bread  day  arrived.  But,  notwithstanding,  the  sur- 
vivors had  to  pay  for  the  bread  which  the  dead  ought  to 
have  had. 

Not  on  every  ship  were  the  emigrant  passengers  so  ill 
provided  for.  The  same  newspaper  reports  that  in  1748 
seven  ships  left  Rotterdam  with  German  emigrants,  and 
as  far  as  known  all  arrived  in  good  health  and  vigor.  In 
the  next  year  twenty  ships  with  German  emigrants  left 
Rotterdam  for  Pennsylvania.  One  of  them  lost  over  one- 
half  of  its  human  freight  by  sickness,  etc.  In  1750  the 
government  of  Pennsylvania  passed  laws  for  the  better 
protection  of  emigrant  passengers,  but  the  laws  were  in- 
sufficient and  not  enforced,  and  so  the  evil  increased  from 
year  to  year,  fed  by  the  large  profits  arising  therefrom1  to 
the  owners  and  captains  of  the  vessels  out  of  the  per- 
nicious redemptioner  system.  It  rivaled  the  horrors  of 
the  slave  trade  in  its  heartless  cruelty.  To  what  extent 
this  redemptioner  system  could  be  abused  is  shown  by  the 
authentic  and  pathetic  story  of  the  white  slave,  Sally 
M  tiller* 

In  the  year  1817,  three  vessels,  the  ship  "Emanuel," 
300  tons;  the  brig  "]ufier  Johanna,"  370  tons,  and  the 
brigantine  "J°harina  Maria"  sailed  from  the  port  of 

*Prof.  Hanno  Deiler,  Geschichte  der  Deutschen  am  Mississippi 
1901,  New   Orleans. 


22  HISTORY  OF  THE 

Helder,  in  Holland,  with  1,100  redemptioners  for  New 
Orleans,  La.  They  arrived  there  after  a  passage  of  about 
four  months  on  the  sixth  of  March,  1818,  with  only  597 
redemptioners  on  board,  the  others  (503)  had  perished 
during-  the  passage  by  sickness,  from  want  of  food,  water 
and  medical  attendance.  The  survivors  testified  that, 
although  there  had  been  sufficient  provision  on  board  of 
the  vessels,  the  officers  and  sailors  withheld  it  to  extort 
whatever  money  the  passengers  might  have,  and  that  the 
water  was  foul  and  full  of  long  wortns.  Entire  families 
perished  and  many  children  who  thus  had  lost  their 
parents  were  landed.  The  'horrible  suffering  of  these 
people  became  known  and  great  indignation  and  excite- 
ment was  aroused  in  the  city  of  New  Orleans,  so  that 
fourteen  days  thereafter  the  legislature  of  Louisiana 
passed  laws  for  the  better  protection  of  emigrants  and 
the  governor  was  directed  to  appoint  two  or  more  compe- 
tent men  as  commissioners  to  board  incoming  immigrant 
vessels  to  examine  their  shipping  contracts,  and  afford 
them  the  protection  of  the  law ;  and  especially  prohibiting 
the  sale  of  the  survivors  for  the  payment  of  the  passage 
money  of  their  fellow  passenger  who  had  died  during  the 
voyage. 

Already,  on  the  Qth  of  March,  1818,  three  days  after 
the  arrival  of  the  vessels,  Senator  Clark  offered  in  the 
senate  of  Louisiana  a  resolution:  "that  a  committee  be 
appointed  to  join  a  committee  as  may  be  appointed  by  the 
house  of  representatives  to  ascertain  what  number  of 
children  there  are  among  the  German  and  Swiss  redemp- 
tioners lately  arrived  in  this  port :  their  names  and  prob- 
able ages;  whether  any  have  been  sold,  and,  if  sold,  to 


GERMAN  SOCIETY  OF  MARYLAND  23 

whom,  and  at  what  prices,  and  to  report  as  early  as  pos- 
sible to  the  legislature." 

The  resolution  was  adopted  in  the  senate  by  nine  to  one 
vote,  but  failed  to  pass  the  next  day  in  the  house  of  repre- 
sentatives. If  it  had  passed  the  fate  of  the  little  German 
girl,  which  was  then  sold  and  kept  for  twenty-seven  years 
in  slavery  as  a  colored  person,  ignorant  of  her  white 
descent,  married  to  a  negro  slave  to  whom  she  gave  birth 
of  three  children,  would  have  been  different. 

Her  name  was  Salome  (called  Sally)  Mueller,  then  in 
her  third  year  of  age,  a  daughter  of  Daniel  Mueller,  a 
shoemaker,  and  Dorothea  Mueller,  his  wife,  born  in  the 
village  of  Langensulzbach,  in  Elsass. 

In  1817  Daniel  Mueller,  with  his  wife  and  four  chil- 
dren, a  boy  eight  years  old,  two  younger  girls,  Dorothea 
and  Sally  and  a  baby,  his  brother  George  Mueller,  a  lock- 
smith, with  his  wife  and  two  sons ;  the  family  Kropp  and 
their  daughter  Eva,  sixteen  years  old,  a  cousin  of  Sally, 
the  families  Kolhofer,  Thickner  and  a  Mrs.  Schutz- 
heimer,  a  friend  and  neighbor  of  Mueller  who  was  mid- 
wife at  the  birth  of  Sally,  and  others  of  the  village  of 
Langensulzbach,  were  emigrants  on  the  aforenamed  brig 
"Juffer  Johanna.''  The  wives  of  both  the  Mueller 
brothers  died  on  the  high  sea  and  the  baby  followed  in 
the  watery  grave.  Then  Eva  Kropp  took  care  of  her 
little  cousin  Sally  and  on  landing  in  New  Orleans,  Eva, 
although  sold  in  service  as  a  redemptioner,  was  willing 
to  keep  Sally  with  her,  but  Sally's  father  would  not  con- 
sent to  it.  The  father  with  his  children  had  been  sold  as 
a  redemptioner  to  Fitz  John  Miller,  the  owner  of  a  planta- 
tion at  Attakapas.  La.,  and  he  took  Mueller  with  his  three 


24  HISTORY  OF  THE 

children  to  his  plantation.  A  few  weeks  after  they  left 
New  Orleans.  It  was  reported  that  Daniel  Mueller,  the 
father,  had  died  of  the  fever,  and  soon  thereafter  that  his 
eight-year-old  boy  -had  drowned  in  the  river.  Nothing- 
was  heard  of  the  two  little  girls.  Years  passed,  the  terms 
of  service  of  the  redemptioners  of  the  "Juffer  Johanna" 
expired  in  the  course  of  time ;  Uncle  George  and  his  two 
sons  became  free  men  again,  and  settled  and  prospered 
in  Woodville,  Missouri. 

The  memory  of  the  terrible  experience  these  redemp- 
tioners had  endured  in  their  long  voyage  across  the  ocean 
remained  a  bond  of  common  sympathy  and  the  fate  of  the 
two  missing  children  was  a  theme  of  frequent  inquiry 
and  conversation  among  them.  Their  Uncle  George 
Mueller  made  several  journeys  in  search  for  his  lost 
nieces,  but  without  finding  a  trace  of  them.  The  children 
seemed  lost.  Twenty-four  years  had  passed  and  not  the 
slightest  information  of  their  existence  or  abode  had  come 
to  their  friends  and  kindred,  when  in  1842,  Madame  Karl, 
a  cousin  and  fellow  passenger  of  them,  passed  the  coffee- 
house of  Louis  Belmonti,  near  the  levee  in  New  Orleans. 

The  door  of  the  coffee  house  stood  wide  open  and 
Madame  Karl  observed  a  woman  in  the  room  cleaning, 
who,  at  the  same  moment,  looked  up  from  her  work  at 
her.  As  Madame  Karl  saw  the  features  and  eyes  of  the 
woman,  she  stood  as  petrified,  the  apparition  of  a  woman 
dear  and  near  to  her  who  had  perished  on  their  dreadful 
voyage  appeared  to  her.  Trembling  and  without  breath, 
she  stared  at  the  woman,  and  in  the  next  minute  she 
rushed  into  the  room  with  the  cry,  "You  are  Sally  Muel- 
ler, my  cousin,"  and  embraced  her  with  tears  of  joy. 


GERMAN  SOCIETY  OF  MARYLAND  25 

The  woman  was  utterly  surprised,  assuring  Madame 
Karl  that  she  was  mistaken  in  her,  as  she  was  Mary  Brid- 
get, a  colored  woman,  a  slave  belonging  to  Mr.  Belmonti, 
who  had  bought  her  of  Fitz  John  Miller,  of  Attakapas, 
and  that  she  did  not  know  anything  of  her  parents  or 
relatives. 

Madame  Karl,  however,  felt  that  she  was  not  mistaken. 
The  long  lost  child  was  found,  her  figure,  the  black  hair, 
the  eyes,  nose,  chin  and  general  appearance  were  too 
striking  like  the  deceased  mother,  Dorothea  Mueller,  to 
admit  of  a  mistake. 

She  persuaded  the  woman  to  go  with  her  to  her  cousin 
Eva  Kropp,  who  was  married  to  Franz  Schubert,  who 
had  been  one  of  the  redemptioners  on  the  "Juffer 
Johanna."  Mary  Bridget  was  kindly  treated  by  Mr.  Bel- 
monti, who  allowed  her  much  freedom.  She  went  with 
Madame  Karl  to  the  suburb  Lafayette,  the  home  of  the 
Schuberts.  Mrs.  Eva  Schubert  happened  to  be  standing 
in  her  house  door.  Seeing  them  coming,  she  greeted  from 
afar  Madame  Karl,  who  had  not  been  to  visit  her  for  some 
time.  Madame  Karl,  however,  pointed  to  her  companion, 
the  slave,  and  asked,  "Do  you  know  her?"  "  'My  God! 
this  is  one  of  the  Mueller's  children,  my  cousin  Sally,' ' 
cried  Mrs.  Schubert,  and  rushed  to  the  slave,  and  her 
husband,  who  came  to  the  door  and  seeing  the  slave,  ex- 
claimed: "Isn't  thiis  one  of  the  lost  children?"  There 
was  no  doubt  with  them  that  the  slave,  Mary  Bridget, 
was  the  lost  Sally  Mueller. 

All  Lafayette  had  heard  the  sad  story  of  the  lost  chil- 
dren and  now,  when  it  was  rumored  that  one  of  them  had 
been  found,  the  people  rushed  to  Schubert's  house  to  ste 


26  HISTORY  OF  THE 

her.  Mrs.  Schutzheimer,  the  midwife  at  the  hirth  ot 
Sally,  recognized  her,  and,  when  a  doubt  was  expressed 
whether  her  owner,  Belmonti,  would  credit  the  identity 
of  his  slave  to  be  Sally  Mueller,  she  called  attention  to  two 
very  peculiar  birth  marks  which  Sally,  the  child,  had 
inside  of  each  of  her  thighs  and  which  Mrs.  Eva  Schubert, 
who  had  taken  care  of  and  washed  the  child  for  three 
months  after  the  death  of  her  mother  on  board  of  the  ves- 
sel, well  knew,  and  often  when  the  lost  children  were  the 
subject  of  conversation  the  female  redemptioner  had 
remarked  that  there  would  be  no  difficulty  in  establishing 
the  identity  of  Sally  by  reason  of  these  peculiar  birth 
marks  on  her  body.  The  woman  now  took  the  slave  to 
Mrs.  Schubert's  bed-room,  and  the  birth  marks  were 
found.  Mrs.  Schubert  at  once  went  to  Mr.  Belmonti  and 
claimed  the  freedom  of  his  slave  as  a  free  born  white 
woman,  her  cousin  Sally  Mueller.  Mr.  Belmonti  refused 
to  give  her  up,  but  mentioned  that  Miller,  of  Attakapaj>, 
shortly  after  the  sale  by  him  to  Belmonti  of  the  slave, 
had  said  to  him  that  Bridget  had  as  much  claim  to  her 
freedom  as  a  free  born  woman  and  for  him  to  treat  her 
well  and  kindly,  so  she  would  remain  in  his  service.  And 
Belmonti  further  remarked,  "If  I  had  then  a  pistol  with 
me,  I  would  have  shot  Miller." 

Mr.  Belmonti  now  restrained  his  slave  in  her  freedom 
and  from  intercourse  with  her  relatives  and  threatened 
her  with  bodily  chastisement  if  she  failed  to  obey. 

Her  relatives  and  friends  then  caused  a  petition  for  her 
freedom  to  be  filed  in  the  first  district  court  of  New 
Orleans.  Judge  Buchanan  and  many  prominent  Ger- 
mans contributed  money  to  pay  the  costs,  expenses  and 


GERMAN  SOCIETY  OF  MARYLAND  27 

lawyers'  fees  in  the  celebrated  and  protracted  case.  The 
renowned  attorneys,  W.  Upton,  Christian  Roselius  (also 
a  former  redemptioner),  F.  Upton,  and  Bonford  appeared 
for  Sally  Mueller,  and  Messrs.  Grymer,  Micon,  Canon, 
Sigur  and  Caperon  were  the  attorneys  for  Belmonti ; 
Franz  Schubert  gave  bail  of  $1,000  when  Sally,  for  an 
attempt  to  leave  Belmonti,  was  thrown  into  prison.  On 
the  23rd  day  of  May,  1845,  tne  tria\  commenced.  Wit- 
nesses who  lived  near  Kattakapas  in  the  years  of  1820  to 
1824  testified  that  the  child,  Mary  Bridget,  was  called  the 
"Dutch  Girl;"  doctors  testified  that  the  birth  marks  on 
the  body  of  Sally  Mueller  could  not  be  produced  by  arti- 
ficial means.  Numerous  witnesses  testified  to  her  family 
resemblance  of  the  Muellers  and  that  she  was  a  white  per- 
son; but  there  were  also  witnesses  to  the  contrary  pro- 
duced by  Fitz  John  Miller,  who  testified  that  they  knew 
of  negro  slaves  as  white  in  color  and  features  as  Sally 
Mueller.  The  case  went  up  to  the  court  of  appeals  of 
Louisiana  and,  on  the  23rd  day  of  June,  1845,  Salty 
Mueller  was  declared  a  free  born  white  person,  the  daugh- 
ter of  Daniel  Mueller,  deceased.  Aside  of  the  testimony 
of  the  relatives,  the  presence  of  the  birth  marks  were  con- 
sidered as  of  weight  in  establishing  her  identity.  Sallie 
Mueller  had  only  a  dim  recollection  that  she  had  been  in 
early  childhood  on  board  of  a  vessel  at  sea.  She  had  no 
recollection  of  her  sister  who  forever  remained  lost,  nor 
of  how  she  had  come  to  Attakapas.  On  obtaining  her 
freedom  she  lived  with  her  cousin,  Mrs.  Schubert.  She 
later  left  the  city  and  is  reported  to  have  married  a  white 
man  named  Frederick  King  with  whom  she  went  to  Cali- 
fornia. 


28  HISTORY  OF  THE 

The  sale  of  free  white  persons  as  redemptioners  to  free 
negroes  does  not  appear  isolated,  for  we  read  in  section 
XIII,  Louisiana  Digest  of  Civil  Laws,  1808: 

"Whereas  free  colored  persons  in  violation  of  the  true 
intent  and  meaning  of  the  law  passed  on  June  7th,  1806, 
have  bought  the  service  of  white  persons,  etc."  The  act 
then  annuls  all  such  contracts  and  instructs  the  attorney- 
general  to  proceed  against  those  who  do  not  immediately 
release  the  persons  so  in  their  service. 

In  Pennsylvania  and  Maryland  the  service  of  the  Ger- 
man redemptioners  were  usually  bought  by  Germans  or 
their  descendants  of  earlier  immigration  and  stood  there- 
fore on  a  more  social  equality  with  their  fellow  men.  It 
is  known  that  many  of  these  redemptioners  after  their 
years  of  service  rose  by  their  industry,  skill  and  economy 
to  wealth  and  influence. 

The  author  in  his  youth  was  acquainted  with  several 
old  gentlemen  of  wealth  and  high  social  standing  in  Balti- 
more city,  who,  in  their  youth,  had  come  here  as  redemp- 
tioners. 

But  with  all  this,  Freiherr  von  Ftirstenwerther,  who 
traveled  in  America  in  1817,  in  his  book  relates  that  two 
free  negroes  had  bought  in  Baltimore  two  German  fami- 
lies as  redemptioners  and  that  the  German  citizens  of 
Baltimore  hearing  of  it,  at  once  contributed  the  money 
and  bought  their  freedom  and  took  proper  measures  to 
prevent  a  repetition  of  such  occurrence. 

Whilst  there  were  many  abuses  of  redemptioners  in 
their  service,  it  was  the  horrors  of  the  ocean  trip  across 
f  ram  Europe  which  was  the  principal  cause  for  the  forma- 
tion of  the  "German  Societies"  in  the  Atlantic  ports  in 
the  eighteenth  century. 


GERMAN  SOCIETY  OF  MARYLAND  29 

The  German  newspapers  in  Pennsylvania  were  in  those 
years  numerous  and  influential.  (Benj.  Franklin  pub- 
lished three.)  Christian  Sauer,  and  after  his  death  in 
1757  his  son,  Christian  Sauer,  Jr.,  in  their  Germantown 
paper,  especially,  published  the  terrible  suffering,  lists  of 
the  dead  and  horrors  on  these  Dutch  emigrant  vessels  and 
appealed  to  the  governor  and  authorities  for  redress. 

It  was  then  on  the  26th  of  December,  1764,  that  sixty- 
five  citizens  of  Philadelphia,  Germans  or  of  German 
descent,  among  them  men  of  wealth  and  influence,  met 
in  the  Lutheran  schoolhouse  and  organized  the  renowned 
"German  Society  of  Pennsylvania"  for  the  protection  and 
aid  of  German  immigrants  and  their  descendants.  It  was 
a  strong  organization  from  its  beginning.  Heinrich 
Keppele,  a  wealthy  German  merchant,  was  its  first  presi- 
dent from  1764  to  1781.  In  the  first  year  of  its  existence, 
1765,  it  procured  better  laws  from  the  legislature  for  the 
protection  of  the  emigrants  and  remained  vigilant  as  to 
the  strict  observance  of  the  same.  It  cared  for  the 
indigent  sick  and  assisted  the  poor.  Illustrious  men 
deemed  it  an  honor  to  serve  as  officers.  Major  General 
Aliihlenberg,  of  the  Revolutionary  War,  whose  statue 
adorns  the  hall  of  fame  in  the  national  capitol  at  Wash- 
ington ;  his  brother,  Fr.  H.  Miihlenberg,  the  president  of 
the  first  house  of  congress,  and  other  prominent  famous 
men  have  been  its  presidents  and  officers.  In  1806  it 
erected  a  fine  building,  maintained  schools,,  opened  a  large 
library,  helped  the  poor,  and  as  a  strong  public  spirited 
organization  after  144  years  of  existence  promises  for 
generations  to  come  to  diffuse  the  humane  sentiments  of 
its  noble  founders. 


3o  HISTORY  OF  THE 


THE   GERMAN   SOCIETY  OF  CHARLESTON,   SOUTH 
CAROLINA, 

Organized  January  15th,  1766. 

It  is  not  generally  known  that  the  colony  of  South 
Carolina  had  an  early  and  numerous  German  immigra- 
tion. In  1675  many  Hollanders  and  Germans  settled  on 
James  Island  and  founded  Jamestown.  Rev.  Pastor 
Bolzius,  one  of  the  leaders  of  the  Salzburger  refugees, 
who  settled  in  1734  on  the  Savannah  river,  in  Georgia, 
mentions  in  his  diary  that  Germans  were  inhabitants  of 
Charleston,  S.  C. ;  in  the  years  from  1730  to  1750,  Ger- 
mans constantly  arrived  by  English  ships  and  settled  in 
the  western  parts  near  the  border  of  the  Indian  country. 
In  1735  an  organized  congregation  under  their  pastor, 
Rev.  Johann  Giessendanner,  came  and  settled  Orange- 
burg.  On  the  forks  of  Saluda  and  Broad  river  so  many 
Germans  had  settled  that  it  was  called  "Dutch  Forks." 
In  1760  there  were  numerous  German  settlements  at  Hard 
Labor  Creek,  in  Edgefield ;  Lexington,  Newberry, 
Spartanburg,  Laurens  and  Richland.  In  1763  a  Baron 
Sttimpel,  a  Prussian  officer  who  had  obtained  from  the 
English  government  a  grant  of  a  large  tract  of  land  in 
South  Carolina,  induced  about  600  Rhinelanders  to  follow 
him  to  his  new  possession.  On  the  way  across  his  money 
gave  out  and  he  abandoned  them.  They  arrived  in  the 
spring  of  1764  in  two  ships  at  Charleston  short  of  funds.* 
The  legislature  granted  them  500  pounds  sterling  and  200 

*Ramsay's    History    of    South  Carolina,   1809. 


GERMAN  SOCIETY  OF  MARYLAND  31 

muskets  with  ample  ammunition  and  sent  them  under 
the  escort  of  Captain  Calhoun  to  the  Gerfman  district  of 
Saxe-Cobourg  in  the  western  part  of  the  colony,  where 
they  settled  on  land  given  to  them.  In  1752  the  first  Ger- 
man Lutheran  Church  was  organized  in  Charleston.  Rev. 
Johann  Luft  was  the  first  pastor;  his  successors  were  the 
pastors,  Rev.  Johann  S.  Hahnbaum,  Rev.  Friedrich 
Daser,  Rev.  Christian  Streit,  Rev.  Johann  Christopher 
Faber,  Rev.  Matthias  Friedrichs,  Rev.  Carl  Faber,  and 
1811  Rev.  Dr.  Johann  Buchanan,  under  whom  it  became 
an  English  Lutheran  Church. 

Michael  Kalteisen,  the  first  president  of  the  German 
Society  of  Charleston,  S.  C,  is  first  mentioned  in  the 
year  1762  as  a  partner  of  the  firm  of  "Braun  & 
Kalteisen,"  merchants.  He  was  very  popular  and  con- 
sidered the  leading  citizen  of  the  German  population  of 
the  city  to  whom  they  would  go  for  advice  and  assistance. 
The  arrival  of  the  destitute  600  emigrants  of  Baron 
Stiimpel's  ill-starred  enterprise,  abandoned  by  their  leader 
and  assisted  by  the  colony,  and  hearing  of  the  organiza- 
tion of  the  humane  "German  Society"  in  Philadelphia, 
induced  Kalteisen  to  appeal  to  his  friends  to  meet  in  his 
house  to  form  a  similar  society  in  Charleston.  On  the 
fifteenth  day  of  January,  1766,  fifteen  citizens  met  and, 
after  due  deliberation,  organized  "The  German  Friendly 
Society  of  Charleston,"  which  now,  after  an  existence  of 
over  142  years,  is  still  in  full  vigor  of  life,  continuing  the 
good  work  and  noble  principle  of  its  founders.  Michael 
Kalteisen  was  elected  its  first  president,  and  held  that 
office  for  the  next  eight  years.  The  society  prospered 
and  at  the  breaking  out  of  the  revolution  it  had  a  hundred 


32  HISTORY  OF  THE 

members  and  so  well  financially  provided  that  its  patriotic 
members  advanced  the  revolutionary  government  of  the 
state  in  its  struggle  for  independence  in  the  war  from 
1776  to  1782  out  of  the  funds  of  the  society  the  sum  of 
£2,300.  Kalteisen,  an  ardent  American  patriot,  on  the 
I2th  day  of  July,  1775,  set  on  foot  the  plan  of  a  German 
military  organization,  which,  under  the  name  of  the  Ger- 
man Fusileers,  in  1776,  numbered  over  a  hundred  mem- 
bers, Kalteisen  being  its  second  lieutenant.  These  fusi- 
leers*  took  an  honorable  part  in  the  war.  In  1779  they 
took  part  in  the  battle  at  Port  Royal  and  with  the  conti- 
nental army  under  General  Lincoln  in  the  siege  of  Savan- 
nah, where  their  Captain  Scheppert  was  killed  in  the  same 
assault  in  which  General  Pulaski  fell. 

After  the  war  Kalteisen  served  in  the  first  and  several 
succeeding  legislatures  of  South  Carolina. 

On  the  1 8th  day  of  July,  1794,  he  was  appointed  cap- 
tain of  artillery  and  engineers  of  the  regular  United  States 
Anmy,*  and  given  the  command  of  Port  Johnson  in  the 
Charleston  harbor,  which  command  he  retained  until  his 
death  was  announced  on  the  3rd  day  of  November,  1807, 
by  the  firing  of  seventeen  guns  from  the  fort,  which  were 
answered  by  the  same  number  of  guns  from  boats  in  the 
harbor,  and  all  flags  in  town  and  shipping  were  placed 
at  half-mast.  He  was  born  at  Wachtelsheim,  in  Wiirtem- 
burg,  and  died  at  the  age  of  79  years,  4  months  and  17 
days. 

He  remained  all  his  life  an  active  member  and  took  a 
deep  interest  in  the  affairs  of  his  beloved  German  society. 

*German  Pioneer,  Cincinnati,  1871,  General  Wagner,  1736-40. 
tHeitman's  Historical  Register  of  U.  S.  Army  for  1789-1903. 


GERMAN  SOCIETY  OF  MARYLAND  33 

It  was  at  his  special  request  that  his  remains  were  buried 
in  a  vault  under  the  hall  of  the  fine  building-  which  the 
society  had  erected  on  Arc'hdale  street  in  the  year  1801. 
A  costly  memorial  of  fine  marble  with  appropriate  inscrip- 
tion was  placed  in  front  of  the  vault.  The  bombardment 
of  Charleston  by  the  Union  forces  on  the  i7th  of  Septem- 
ber, 1864,  destroyed  the  building,  memorial  and  vault. 
A  new  vault  has  been  built  with  suitable  inscription.  In 
the  year  1803  the  society  opened  a  German  school, 
wherein  beside  German  and  English,  Latin  and  Greek 
were  taught  and  twenty  poor  children  were  instructed 
free  of  charge.  In  1805  a  German  library  was  opened. 
A  special  fund  was  set  aside  for  the  assistance  of  German 
emigrants  in  distress,  which  amounted  in  the  years  1850 
to  1860  to  over  $50,000,  and  about  $1,500  were  annually 
disbursed  in  support  of  widows  and  orphans  of  Charles- 
ton. 

In  1791  the  society  was  incorporated  with  a  member- 
ship of  169  and  a  capital  of  $8,643.58  and  continued  to 
prosper  financially  so  that  at  the  time  of  the  destruction 
of  their  building  by  the  bombardment  in  1863  it  had  a 
capital  of  more  than  $100,000,  which,  being  invested 
mostly  in  southern  securities,  was  like  its  membership 
materially  reduced  by  this  calamity.  The  remaining 
members,  steadfast  in  their  devotion  to  its  noble  humane 
work,  continued  with  renewed  energy  and  gained  mem- 
bers now  also  citizens  of  English,  Scotch  and  Irish 
descent.  They  bought  a  lot  of  ground  for  the  erection 
of  a  new  building  and,  in  1866,  January  lyth,  celebrated 
the  first  centennial  of  its  existence,  in  which  celebration 
most  all  societies  of  Charleston  took  part.  After  religious 


34  HISTORY  OF  THE 

services  in  the  St.  John's  Lutheran  German  Church  .1 
banquet  was  held.  Rev.  John  Buchanan,  who,  at  the 
fiftieth  annual  celebration  had  rendered  the  same  service, 
delivered  the  oration.  The  society  at  the  Charleston 
Exhibition  in  the  year  1902  celebrated  a  jubilee  banquet 
at  which  250  persons  took  part,  among  them  the  officials 
and  most  prominent  citizens  of  Charleston. 

The  Gertnan  Society  of  Maryland  next  in  time  was 
organized  not  later  than  the  year  1783  and  its  interesting 
history  will  hereinafter  be  given  at  large  and  in  detail  as 
far  as  the  records,  not  lost  or  destroyed  by  the  great  fire 
of  1904,  are  available. 

The  fourth  of  these  societies  was  organized  on  the  23rd 
day  of  August  in  the  year  1784  by  thirteen  citizens  of  the 
city  of  New  York  under  the  name  of  The  German  Society 
of  New  York. 

Col.  Heinrich  E.  von  Lutterloh  was  its  first  president, 
and  Col.  Friedridi  von  Weissenfels  (both  officers  in  the 
Revolutionary  Army)  its  vice-president.  General  vori 
Steuben  was  president  from  January  21,  1795,  to  January 
25,  1804.  This  large  and  influential  society,  which  by 
its  report  for  the  year  1903  shows  a  membership  of  1,070 
and  a  capital  of  $181,001.34,  and  by  its  employment 
bureau  in  1903  assisted  10,801  persons,  has  had  amongst 
its  officers  many  renowned  men.  Philip  D.  Arcularius 
was  president  1804-06;  George  Arcularius,  1810-12  and 
1824-26;  Jacob  Lorillard,  1819-21  and  1835-37;  Johann 
Jacob  Astor,  1837-45;  L.  W.  Faber,  1841-45;  Gustav 
Schwab,  1855;  Sigmund  Kauffman,  1874,  Gustav  H. 
Schwab,  1903-06. 


GERMAN  SOCIETY  OF  MARYLAND  35 


THE  GERMAN  SOCIETY  OF  MARYLAND. 

The  records  of  the  organization  and  of  the  early  period 
until  the  year  1817  of  this  society  are  lost.  We  do  not 
know  the  exact  date  of  its  organization.  Travelers  who 
visited  North  America  in  the  eighteenth  century  mention 
its  existence,  and  Franz  Loher  in  his  admirable  history 
of  the  Germans  in  America  (Cincinnati,  1847,  P-  81) 
states  that  it  was  organized  at  the  same  time,  "1764," 
when  the  Pennsylvania  Society  was  founded.  This  date 
being,  however,  uncertain,  we  will  take  a  short  review  of 
the  conditions  of  the  German  inhabitants  of  the  State  of 
Maryland  generally  and  especially  of  the  inhabitants  of 
Baltimore  before  and  within  the  period  of  its  probable 
beginning. 

Dr.  E.  J.  Wolf  and  L.  Beard  write  in  their  Church 
History : 

In  1710  some  of  the  Palatinates  settled  in  Frederick 
County,  in  and  about  the  year  1720  they  built  the  first 
church  in  said  county  at  their  settlement  called  Jerusalem. 
In  1733  the  German  settlers  erected  a  church  at  the  Mon- 
ocacy  river  and  in  1735  at  Frederick.  The  missionaries  Rev. 
Melchior  Muhlenburg  and  Rev.  Michael  Schlatter  report 
in  1747-1748  to  Germany  that  more  than  1,000  German  set- 
tlers lived  in  the  valley  of  the  Monocacy.  William  Eddis, 
an  officer  under  Governor  Eden,  in  Maryland,  in  the  years 
1769  to  1776,  in  his  Letters  to  a  friend  in  England  pub- 
lished 1792  in  London  under  the  title  "Letters  from  Amer- 
ica," writes  that  it  was  the  immigration  of  the  Germans  who 


36  HISTORY  OF  THE 

mainly  increased  the  population  of  Maryland  and  by  their 
industry  developed  the  colony. 

The  Germans  in  the  years  1732  to  1776  settled  largely 
Western  Maryland  from  Baltimore  to  the  western 
boundary  lines.  In  1771,  and  again  in  1773,  they  elected 
Jonathan  Hager  as  a  member  of  the  Legislature  of  Mary- 
land. He  was  a  German  immigrant  and  the  laws  of  Eng- 
land prohibited  any  person  not  born  an  English  subject 
to  be  a  member  of  a  legislative  body.  The  legislature 
of  Maryland  passed  an  enabling  act  which  had  to  be 
approved  by  Lord  Baltimore,  the  proprietor  of  the 
Province. 

Governor  Eden  of  Maryland,  in  his  letter  of  January 
23,  1773,  to  Lord  Dartmouth  in  England,  writes: 

"I  should  be  extremely  sorry  if  the  Explanation  I  am  to 
give  to  your  Lordship  of  the  motive  for  passing  the  Acts, 
Cap  i  should  not  prove  satisfactory;  for  I  can  venture  to 
assure  your  Lordship  that  this  Act  was  not  intended  to 
contravene  the  Statute  in  any  degree,  and  that  the  People, 
in  whose  Favor  it  was  passed,  have  the  merit  of  being  most 
useful  subjects.  In  consequence  of  the  Encouragement 
given  by  Statute,  a  great  Number  of  German  Emigrants 
have  settled  in  North  America,  particularly  in  Pennsyl- 
vania, and  the  frontier  counties  of  Maryland.  They  are 
generally  an  industrious  laborious  People.  Their  Improve- 
ment of  a  Wilderness  into  well  stock'd  Plantations,  the  Ex- 
ample, and  beneficial  Effects  of  their  extraordinary  In- 
dustry, have  raised,  in  no  small  Degree,  a  Spirit  of  Emula- 
tion among  the  other  Inhabitants.  That  they  are  a  most 
useful  People,  and  merit  the  public  Regard  is  acknowledged 
by  all  who  are  acquainted  with  them." 


GERMAN  SOCIETY  OF  MARYLAND  37 

Germans  were  among-  the  first  settlers  of  Baltimore. 
As  early  as  May  2,  1754,  Governor  Sharp  of  Maryland 
in  his  report  to  Lord  Baltimore,  the  proprietor  of  the 
province,    mentions    the   Germans   as   the   best   element 
among  the  inhabitants  of  Baltimore.     In  the  year  1750, 
when  "Baltimore  Town"  contained  but  25  houses  and 
less  than  200  inhabitants,  the  first  German   Reformed 
Congregation  of  Baltimore  town  was  organized.     It  is 
still  in  existence,  now  located  on  North  Calvert,  near 
Read  street.     It  erected  its  first  church  about  the  year 
1756  on  North  Charles  street,  near  Saratoga  street.     The 
German  Lutherans,  until  the  year  1756,  -worshiped  in  the 
same  building  with  the  Reformed  and  about  that  year- 
separated  and  proceeded  to  purchase  a  lot  of  ground  on 
Saratoga   street,   then   called   Fish   street.     Not  having 
enough  money  to  erect  a  church  building,  they  built  a 
school-house,  wherein  they  held  their  religious  services 
on  Sundays  and  holidays  until  they  had  accumulated  a 
capital  to  erect  a  house  of  worship  on  Gay  street,  now 
called  "The  Zion  Church."     Mr.  Moritz  Worschler  was 
their  worthy  schoolmaster.     We  find  him  mentioned  in 
the  annals  of  the  church  from  the  year  1758  to  the  year 
1773.  The  Rev.  Philip  Wilhelm  Otterbein  in  1774  organ-      X 
ized  on  Conway,  near  Sharp  street,  the  so-called  "Otter- 
bein Church,"  a   German  Lutheran  congregation  of  a 
large  membership,  out  of  which  developed  the  numerous 
sect  calling  themselves  "The  United  Brethren  in  Christ." 
German    professional    men,    merchants,    mechanics    and 
artisans  came  in  the  eighteenth  century  in  large  numbers 
to  Baltimore,  mostly  direct  from  Germany,  and  many 
from  York  county  and  other  parts  of  Pennsylvania.     In 


38  HISTORY  OF  THE 

the  year  1764  Nicholas  Hasselbach,  a  printer  and  paper- 
maker,  came  from  Philadelphia  and  settled  with  his  fam- 
ily in  Baltimore.  He  had  been  in  the  paper-making, 
printing-  and  publishing  business  in  Philadelphia,  where 
he  landed  an  emigrant  from  Germany  in  August.  1749. 
He  was  a  man  of  enterprise  and  success  and  had  accumu- 
lated considerable  wealth.  He  published  German  alma- 
nacs and  religious  wrorks  and,  in  1762,  was  a  member  of 
the  publishing  firm  of  Ant.  Armbruster  and  N.  Hassel- 
bach, Philadelphia.  He  brought  with  him  to  Baltimore 
a  complete  outfit  of  German  and  English  type  and  print- 
ing press.  Being  established  in  Baltimore,  he  published 
school  and  other  books,  etc.,  in  the  German  and  English 
language  and  contemplated  publishing  a  German  transla 
tion  of  the  Bible.  Only  one  specimen  of  his  publications 
is  known  to  be  preserved  to  the  present  time.  It  was 
republished  by  George  W.  McCreary,  assistant  librarian 
of  the  Maryland  Historical  Society,  Baltimore,  1903, 
with  a  biography  of  Nicholas  Hasselbach,  from  which 
the  writer  has  the  information.  Hasselbach  was  the  first 
printer  in  Baltimore.  Shortly  after  his  arrival  here,  July 
6,  1765,  he  purchased  a  lot  of  ground  33x99  feet  of  what 
is  now  No.  414  East  Baltimore  street  from  Thomas  Har- 
rison; in  1768  a  lot  corner  of  Charles  and  Pratt  streets; 
in  1769  a  lot  southeast  corner  of  Gay  and  Lombard 
streets,  and  a  lot  south  side  of  Mercer  street. 

On  his  death  his  estate  was  assessed  at  $50,000. 

In  1769  he  went  on  a  business  trip  to  Europe  and  was 
lost  at  sea.  In  the  year  1773  his  widow  sold  his  printing 
materials  to  William  Goddard,  who,  August  20,  1773, 
issued  the  first  number  of  the  first  newspaper  published 


GERMAN  SOCIETY  OF  MARYLAND  39 

in  Baltimore  under  the  title  of  "The  Maryland  Journal 
and  Baltimore  Advertiser"  and  "The  Baltimore  Ameri- 
can." Hasselbach  and  his  family  were  members  of  the 
first  German  Reformed  Congregation. 

As  early  as  1779,  less  than  three  years  after  the 
Declaration  of  Independence,  a  resolution  was  introduced 
in  the  senate  of  the  general  assembly  of  Maryland  that 
Messrs.  Hanson,  Beale  and  Fischer  translate  into  the 
German  language  certain  acts  of  the  assembly,  and,  in 
1787,  it  was  ordered  by  the  house  of  delegates  that  the 
printer  of  Fredericktown  be  directed  to  translate  into  the 
German  language  the  proceedings  of  the  Committee  on 
Federal  Constitution  and  the  resolves  of  the  general 
assembly  thereon  to  be  distributed,  and  print  300  copies 
to  be  equally  distributed  in  Frederick,  Washington  and 
Baltimore  counties. 

This  was  the  first  official  recognition  by  the  State  of 
the  existence  of  the  German  language  among  its  inhabi- 
tants. 


4O  HISTORY  OF  THE 


DR.   KARL  FRIEDRICH  WIESENTHAL, 
The  First  President  of  the  German  Society  of  Maryland. 

One  of  the  most  prominent  German  citizens  of  Balti- 
more town  at  this  period  was  Karl  Friedrich  Wiesenthal, 
M.  D.  He  was  born  in  Prussia  in  the  year  1726,  studied 
medicine  in  Germany,  and  in  the  year  1755  emigrated  to 
Baltimore,  where  he  settled  and  practiced  as  a  physician 
until  his  death  in  the  year  1789.  We  find  him  a  member 
of  the  church  council  of  the  German  Lutheran  Zion 
Church  in  1769,  and  he  is  supposed  to  be  the  annalist  him- 
self to  whom  we  owe  the  interesting  chronicles  of  the 
Zion  Church,  compiled  by  Rev.  Henry  Scheib  and  pub- 
lished by  the  society  of  the  History  of  the  Germans  in 
Maryland,  Second  Annual  Report,  1887-88,  p.  57.  Dr. 
Wiesenthal  in  1762  was  one  of  the  committee  of  five 
to  negotiate  for  the  purchase  of  the  ground  whereon  the 
church  and  schoolhouse  were  to  be  erected,  and  to  facili- 
tate the  purchase  he  bought  part  of  the  ground  for  him- 
self. He  appears  at  the  head  of  the  147  subscribing  mem- 
bers of  the  Rules  and  Regulations  of  the  Church  adopted 
in  1773;  he  was  a  member  of  the  church  council,  and  on 
April  3,  1787,  for  the  last  time,  elected  as  the  presiding 
member  thereof.  Dr.  Wiesenthal  was  not  only  a  good 
Christian,  a  successful  physician,  but  also  a  true  patriot 
and  public-spirited  citizen.  During  the  War  of  Inde- 
pendence he  warmly  espoused  the  cause  of  the  patriots 
and  his  services  and  advice  were  of  great  value  to  the 
State  and  country. 


GERMAN  SOCIETY  OF  MARYLAND  41 

In  1771  he  became  naturalized.  In  January,  1775,  he 
was  made  a  member  of  the  Committee  of  Observation  of 
Baltimore  County  and  in  December  of  the  same  year  he 
received  the  appointment  of  superintendent  of  the  manu- 
facture of  saltpetre  for  the  State  to  be  used  in  the  making 
of  gunpowder.  On  March  2,  1776,  he  was  commis- 
sioned by  the  council  a  surgeon-major  of  the  First  Mary- 
land Battalion,  commanded  by  Colonel  Smallvvood.  In 
a  letter  to  the  council  of  safety,  written  at  this  time  and 
still  extant,  he  expresses  his  willingness  to  assist  the  cause 
to  the  extent  of  his  power,  strength  and  abilities  and  to 
go  with  the  troops  wherever  they  should  be  ordered.  On 
the  1 2th  of  March  he  published  an  appeal  to  the  public 
for  linen  and  old  sheeting  for  bandages.  In  the  sa/me 
year  he  was  medical  purveyor  for  the  Maryland  troops 
and  examiner  of  candidates  for  medical  positions  in  the 
service.  In  1777  he  was  made  surgeon-general  of  the 
Maryland  troops.  Dr.  Wiesenthal  owned  and  resided 
in  a  brick  dwelling  on  the  southeast  corner  of  Gay  and 
Fayette  streets,  extending  to  Frederick  street.  In  the 
parts  extending  on  Frederick  street,  which  are  still  stand- 
ing, Dr.  Wiesenthal  and  after  his  death,  his  son,  Andrew 
Wiesenthal,  M.  D.,  conducted  a  medical  school  and  a  dis- 
secting room.  See  advertisement  in  No.  59  (1796)  Der 
Neue  Unparteiische  Baltimore  Bote  und  Maryland  Staats- 
Register,  Mittwoch,  May  4  (The  New  Impartial  Mes- 
senger and  Maryland  State  Register  of  Wednesday,  May 
4,  1796),  a  weekly  German  newspaper  published  in  Balti- 
more by  Samuel  Sauer,  'wherein  Dr.  Wiesenthal  otFers  to 
several  students  comforts  in  his  house,  where  they  will 
have  advantages  as  perhaps  nowhere  else  in  this  country 


42  HISTORY  OF  THE 

can  be  found  in  instruction  in  dissection,  etc.  In  the  same 
year  Dr.  Andrew  Wiesenthal  delivered  a  course  of  lec- 
tures on  anatomy  in  Baltimore.  The  German  physicians, 
Dr.  Wilhelm  Zollickoffer,  Dr.  Henry  Keerl,  Dr.  John 
Peter  Ahl  and  others  were  also  practicing-  in  Baltimore  in 
those  years.  There  is  only  the  one  No.  59  of  the  New 
Impartial  Messenger,  etc.,  preserved.  It  is  in  a  glass 
frame  in  our  city  library.  The  heading  of  the  paper 
indicates  that  there  were  German  newspapers  published 
in  the  city  of  Baltimore  prior  to  the  New  Impartial  Mes- 
senger and  the  addition  of  "Maryland  Staats-Register" 
indicates  that  there  was  a  merger  of  a  former  separate 
Maryland  State  Register.  These  German  publications, 
wherein  we  most  likely  would  find  the  date  of  the  begin- 
ning of  the  German  Society  of  Maryland  being  lost,  a 
search  in  "Griffith's  Annals  of  Baltimore"  in  the  library 
of  the  Maryland  Historical  Society  disclosed  on  page  703 
the  following  entry : 

"1783,  directly  after  the  Peace,  several  merchants  from 
other  States  and  other  parts  of  this  State  settled  here, 
among  whom  were  Messrs.  Slubey,  Dall,  Stauffer,  Stark, 
Kimmel,  Isaac  Salomon  and  Johannot,  and  a  number  of 
European  gentlemen,  among  whom  were  Grundy,  Coop- 
man,  Schroeder,  Seekamp,  Koneke,  Zollickoffer,  Valk.  By 
the  Minerva,  Capt.  Bels,  Harmony  and  other  vessels  there 
were  brought  a  great  many  Irish  and  German  Redemption- 
ers  and  A  SOCIETY  FOR  THE  Am  OF  THE  GERMANS,  NOT 
SPEAKING  THE  LANGUAGE  OF  THE  COUNTRY,  was  formed." 

In  Quinan,  Medical  Annals  of  Baltimore,  we  find, 
"year  1782,  page  15,  Dr.  Henry  Keerl  arrived  from  Ger- 


GERMAN  SOCIETY  OF  MARYLAND  43 

many,"  and,  "in  1784,  Dr.  Charles  F.  Wiescnihal,  physi- 
cian to  the  German  Society,"  and  later,  "Dr.  William 
Zollikoffer." 

In  the  Maryland  Journal  of  Tuesday,  August  10,  1784, 
the  following  thanks  of  the  society  were  published : 

"To  Capt.  Clans  Kulkens,  of  the  Brig  Lavater: 

"Sir :  The  brutal  advantage  which  has  been  taken  by  some 
Masters  of  Vessels,  of  their  power  over  their  passengers, 
has  induced  a  number  of  inhabitants  of  this  place,  (in  imi- 
tation of  their  brethren  in  Philadelphia)  to  form  themselves 
into  a  Society,  for  the  protection  of  such  of  their  country- 
men as  may  be  induced  to  come  to  this  State,  and  guard 
them  from  the  oppression  and  barbarity  of  unfeeling  men. 

"Upon  inquiry  concerning  the  usage  of  the  people  on 
board  of  your  brig  'The  Lavater,'  we  find,  with  peculiar 
satisfaction,  that  your  attention  to  those  principles  which 
should  animate  a  Christian  heart,  has  rendered  their  situa- 
tion as  easy  and  comfortable  as  circumstances  would  per- 
mit. We  cannot,  sir,  restrain  our  strong  desire  we  feel  of 
expressing  to  you  our  warmest  acknowledgments,  and  pub- 
licly to  offer  you  our  sincerest  thanks,  which  we  consider 
as  the  smallest  Tribute  due,  for  your  generosity  and  tender- 
ness. 

By  Order  of  the  German  Society 

JOHN  CONRAD  ZOLLIKOFFER,  Sec. 

Baltimore,  August  9th,  1784." 

These  notes  point  to  the  year  1783  as  the  beginning  of 
the  "German  Society  of  Maryland,"  especially  as  they 
refer  to  the  arrival  of  many  Irish  and  German  redemp- 
tioners  at  that  time.  The  abuse  and  misery  these  poor 


44  HISTORY  OF  THE 

people  suffered  on  their  sea  voyage  had  aroused  the  Ger- 
mans in  Philadelphia  in  1764  to  organize  for  their  aid 
and  protection,  and  as  John  Conrad  Zollikoffer  says :  It 
was  in  imitation  of  their  brethren  of  Philadelphia  they 
formed  themselves  into  a  society.  The  historian,  Loher, 
says  the  Maryland  society,  was  formed  about  the  same 
time  (1764)  and  the  Charleston,  S.  C,  was  undoubted!}' 
formed  in  1766  in  imitation  of  the  Pennsylvania  society. 
Whatever  year  it  may  have  been,  family  tradition  and 
other  notes  point  to  Dr.  Karl  Friedrich  Wiesenthal  as  the 
prime  mover  and  first  president  of  the  society  and  for  a 
beginning  not  later  than  the  year  1783.  We  shall  be  the 
more  inclined  to  accept  him  as  the  founder  of  this  noble 
humane  society  'when  we  read  the  notice  of  his  death 
taken  from  the  Maryland  Journal  and  Baltimore  Adver- 
tiser of  June  2,  1789.  It  says  :  "The  Shaft  he  so  often 
warded  from  others  has  pierced  him  at  last.  Yesterday 
morning,  about  half-past  seven  o'clock,  departed  this  life 
Dr.  Charles  Frederick  Wiesenthal,  in  the  63rd  year  of 
his  age  after  having  practiced  in  this  town  for  34  years. 
If  the  strictest  attention  in  his  profession  which  humanity 
could  excite  and  that  success  which  might  be  expected 
from  superior  medical  abilities  improved  in  an  uncommon 
measure  by  reason  and  observation  deserve  to  be  remem- 
bered, the  tears  of  gratitude  must  flow  in  sorrowful  pro- 
fusion. He  is  gone !  and  the  pain  of  reflection  is  the  more 
heightened  because  it  is  at  the  time  when  he  was  in  daily 
expectation  of  the  return  of  an  absent  and  only  son  whose 
virtues  and  abilities  are  beloved  and  admired  by  all  who 
know  him."  His  son  was  at  the  time  pursuing  his 
studies  in  Europe.  Who  were  his  associates  in  the  found- 


GERMAN  SOCIETY  OF  MARYLAND  45 

ing  of  the  German  Society  aside  of  John  Conrad  Zol- 
likoffer  and  Dr.  Wilhelm  Zollikoffer,  we  cannot  state. 
Brantz  Mayer,  in  his  memoir  and  genealogy  of  the  Mary- 
land Family  of  Mayer,  which  originated  in  the  city  of 
Ulm;  Baltimore,  1878,  states  on  page  36  that  his  father, 
Christian  Mayer,  on  the  3rd  of  January,  1785,  became  a 
member  of  "the  German  Society."  There  were  many 
wealthy  and  public  spirited  German  citizens,  or  of  Ger- 
man descent,  in  the  city  in  those  years.  W.  Griffith  in 
his  Annals  of  Baltimore,  printed  by  Frederick  G.  Schaef- 
fer,  Baltimore,  1821,  on  page  72,  writes  in  the  year  1776 : 
Officers  in  the  German  Company  in  1776  were  Peter 
Mackenheimer,  George  P.  Keeport  (Kuhbord),  John 
Lohre,  Christ.  Myers,  Samuel  Gerock,  John  Lindenberger, 
John  Mackenheimer,  John  Ritter  and  George  Cole,  with 
the  remark,  "this  does  not  include  the  Rifle  Company." 

Before  the  independence  of  America,  England  had  a 
monopoly  of  the  foreign  trade  of  the  country.  During 
the  war  all  foreign  trade  was  suspended,  but  now,  after 
the  recognition  by  Great  Britain  of  the  independence  of 
the  United  States,  the  merchants  of  Hamburg  and 
Bremen  located  branch  houses  in  Baltimore  and  their  ves- 
sels with  cargoes  of  linen  and  other  products  of  Germany, 
and  principally  with  immigrants,  arrived  here,  and  re- 
turned with  cargoes  of  tobacco  to  their  home  ports.  Bal- 
timore became  more  and  more  a  popular  port  for  the 
imtmigrants  to  land  from  Europe  and  especially  from  Ger- 
many. Among  the  earliest  of  the  Germans  to  land  here 
after  the  war  and  but  a  few  months  after  the  treaty  was 
John  Jacob  Astor  from  Waldorf,  Germany,  who  came 
here  as  an  emigrant  with  a  few  hundred  dollars'  worth  of 


46  HISTORY  OF  THE 

musical  instruments  to  dispose  of  on  commission.  He 
went  from  here  to  New  York,  where,  by  his  industry, 
enterprise  and  integrity,  he  accumulated  (millions  of  dol- 
lars and  became  the  president  of  the  German  Society  of 
New  York.  John  Frederick  L.  Amelung  arrived  in  1784 
with  a  number  of  glass  manufacturers  from  Germany  and 
erected  an  extensive  factory  on  the  Monocacy  river  in 
Frederick  county,  and  in  1796,  with  his  son,  F.  L.  E. 
Amelung,  built  the  glass  factory  on  the  south  side  of  the 
basin  in  Baltimore  city.  Frederick  Leypold  arrived  here 
about  the  same  time,  and  with  Charles  Carts  as  partner, 
in  the  year  1784,  erected  a  sugar  refinery  in  South  Balti- 
more. The  merchants.  J.  B.  von  Kappf  and  — —  Ansbach, 
under  the  firm  of  von  Kappf  &  Ansbach,  in  1795  estab- 
lished their  extensive  tobacco  export  and  import  business. 
Christian  Meyer,  a  merchant  from  Ulm,  Germany,  who, 
in  1817,  became  the  president  of  the  German  Society, 
arrived  here  in  1784.  Heinrich  Schroeder,  Louis  Brantz. 
Samuel  Etting.  Michael  Kimmel,  William  Lorman,  Dr. 
Heinrich  Keerl,  John  H.  Friese,  F.  W.  Brune  and  others 
who,  in  later  years  appear  as  officers  of  the  German  So- 
ciety, came  here  in  those  years.  The  outbreak  of  the 
French  Revolution  and  the  Napoleonic  wars,  which  lasted 
till  1815,  interrupted  the  trade  with  and  the  immigration 
from  Germany.  Very  few  emigrants  arriving  in  Balti- 
more during  this  period  from  Germany,  there  was  little 
activity  of  the  German  Society  of  Maryland,  which  then 
had  for  its  object  solely  the  protection  of  the  emigrants 
on  board  of  the  vessels  which  brought  them  here  and  on 
their  arrival  to  guard  them  against  oppression  so  that  no 
unfair  advantage  be  taken  of  their  ignorance  of  the 


GERMAN  SOCIETY  OF  MARYLAND  47 

country,  its  laws  and  language,  and  advise  and  assist 
those  who  intended  to  settle  in  the  interior.  We  only 
know  of  its  continued  existence  during  these  years  by  it 
being  mentioned  by  travelers  who  published  their  jour- 
neys. The  German  population  of  Baltimore  in  those 
years,  many  of  them  natives  of  Baltimore  in  the  second 
and  third  generation,  miaintained  a  large  Reformed,  two 
Lutheran,  a  Calvinist,  a  Baptist  and  a  Dunkard  congre- 
gation, wherein  the  services  were  conducted  in  the  Ger- 
man language,  with  parish  schools.  A  German  newspaper 
was  published.  Samuel  Sauer,  a  printer  who  came  here 
from'  Philadelphia  in  1792,  published  here  the  following 
books  in  the  German  language  : 

1795,  Johann  Lassencius'  Politische  Geheimnisse  vieler 
hin  und  wieder  heutigen  Tages  einreisender  unartigen 
Atheisten,  Gedruckt  von  S.  Sauer  und  Jones. 

1795,  Der  heilige  Krieg,  wie  derselbe  gefiihrt  wird  von 
Christo  Jesu  wieder  den  Teufel. 

1795,  Count  Roderick's  Castle  2  Vol.  on  one,  printed  by 
same  Sauer  and  S.  Keating. 

1796,  Dem  Andenken   Deutscher   Dichter  und   Philoso- 
phen,    gewidmet    George    Washington    von    Deutschen    in 
America,  published  by  S.  Keating. 

1796,  Der  Psalter  des  Konigs  und  Propheten  Davids. 

1796,  A.  B.  C.  Buchstabier  und  Namen  Buch. 

1797,  Das   kleine   Davirl'sche   Psalterspiel,   2  verbesserte 
Auflage  nebst  Appendia,  Die  kleine  Harfe. 

1798,  Der    merkwiirdige    Lebenslauf,    die    sonderbaren 
Bekehrungen  und  Entzuckungen  des  verstorbenen  Dr.  De 
Beneville. 

1799,  Christliches  Handbiichlein  von  Johannias  Tiibinger. 
1801,  Der  geschwinde  Rechner,  Almanacs,  etc. 


48  HISTORY  OF  THE 

Samuel  Sauer  combined  with  his  printing  establishment 
in  partnership  with  William  Gwinn  a  type  foundry,  which 
proved  a  great  success. 

Among  the  prominent  citizens  of  these  years  who  were 
active  in  public  affairs  and  in  German  Society  were  men- 
tioned: Adam  Fonerden,  Baltzer  Schaeffer,  Peter  Frick, 
members  of  the  City  Council  in  1797;  Adam  Fonerden 
became  later  a  delegate  to  the  Maryland  Legislature: 
Capt.  Jacob  Keeport  (Kuhbord),  Capt.  John  Strieker  and 
Col.  John  Mackenheimer,  officers  in  the  Revolutionary 
War;  Michael  Diffenderfer,  Wilhelm  Raborg,  John 
Dobler,  Philip  Littig,  Michael  Schryock,  Peter  Sauer- 
wein,  August  Tegtmeyer,  Ludwig  Tegtmeyer,  Wilhelm 
Keilholtz,  Jacob  Ad.  Knott,  Ernst  Fauth,  Peter  Atn. 
Karthaus,  Nicholas  Emich,  Col.  Peter  Aimigh,  George 
Warner,  Friedrich  Eiseln,  Peter  Hoffman,  Lorenz  Thom- 
sen,  David  Hoffman,  Jacob  Schley,  William  Schroeder, 
Michael  Warner,  Wilhelm  Krebs,  Erasmus  Uhler,  Hein- 
rich  Keerl,  Justus  Hoppe,  Johann  Leypold,  Wendel 
Michael,  Fred.  Waesche,  Ludwig  Brantz,  David  Bixler, 
August  Schwatka,  Heinrich  Winter,  Christian  Weis- 
hampel,  Heinrich  Dukehart,  Conrad  Reil,  Johann  Fussel- 
bach,  Jacob  Small,  Capt.  John  Schirm,  Christian  Keller, 
Herman  Alrichs,  Ludwig  tiering,  Peter  Gold,  Captain 
Haubert,  Capt.  Michael  Peters,  Capt.  Daniel  Schwarz- 
man  and  Capt.  George  Steever,  captains  in. the  War  of 
1812  to  1814.  These  citizens  took  an  active  interest  in 
our  city  affairs.  The  city  was  then  divided  into  eight 
wards  and  each  ward  was  represented  by  two  members 
in  the  City  Council.  Among  the  sixteen  members  of  the 
City  Council  in  the  year  1806  the  following  names 


GERMAN  SOCIETY  OF  MARYLAND  49 

appear:  First  Ward,  George  Decker,  Henry  Stauffer; 
Second  Ward,  Jacob  Small ;  Third  Ward,  Wm.  Lorman ; 
Fourth  Ward,  George  P.  Keeport;  Fifth  Ward,  Balzer 
Schaeffer,  John  Shirm;  Sixth  Ward,  John  Miller; 
Seventh  Ward,  Ludwig  Hering  and  Frederick  Schaeffer. 
The  names  of  Peter  Hoffman,  Adam  Fonerden,  Peter 
Frick,  Christopher  Raborg,  John  Mackenheimer,  Samuel 
Frey,  Peter  Diffenderfer,  John  Snyder,  William  Warner 
and  George  Woelper  also  appear  as  members  of  the  City 
Council  in  the  years  from  1807  to  1814. 


50  HISTORY  OF  THE 


THE    GERMAN   CHURCHES    OF    BALTIMORE    IN    THE 
EIGHTEENTH  CENTURY. 

The  first  German  Reformed  Congregation  which  in  the 
middle  of  the  eighteenth  century  had  its  church  on  North 
Charles  street,  at  or  near  the  northwest  corner  of  Sara- 
toga street,  had  divided  in  1770  by  a  large  number  of  its 
members  withdrawing  and  organizing  the  Second  Ger- 
man Reformed  Congregation,  which,  in  1774,  elected 
Rev.  Philip  William  Otterbein  as  pastor  and  erected  the 
church  on  Conway  street,  between  Sharp  and  Hanover 
streets,  where  it  still  continues  to  worship  in  the  German 
language.  The  First  Reformed  Church,  under  the  ad- 
ministration of  Rev.  Mr.  Pomp  and  the  leadership  of 
Michael  Diffenderfer,  Daniel  Diffenderfer,  Peter  Diffen- 
derfer,  Frederick  Meyers  and  Jacob  Meyers  in  1785,  re- 
solved to  build  a  larger  church  at  the  northwest  corner 
of  Baltimore  and  Front  streets.  The  cornerstone  was 
laid  on  the  first  of  September,  1785,  and  on  the  2Oth  of 
June,  1787,  the  first  service  was  held  in  the  new  church. 
The  members,  however,  soon  became  dissatisfied  with  the 
location  of  the  church  on  account  of  the  proximity  of  the 
Jones'  Falls,  which  often  flooded  its  banks  and  the  noise 
of  the  passing  vehicles  crossing  the  nearby  Baltimore 
street  bridge,  and  authorized  Jacob  Hoffman,  Peter  Dif- 
fenderfer, George  Decker  and  others,  eighty-two  male 
members  voting  in  favor  of  it,  to  sell  the  church.  This 
committee  soon  effected  a  sale  thereof,  which  was  ratified 
by  the  congregation  in  August,  1796.  The  congregation 


then  bought  a  lot  of  ground  on  the  north  side  of  Second 
street,  nearly  in  the  bed  of  iHolliday  street  as  now  cut 
through.  The  lot  had  a  loo-foot  front  by  200  feet  depth. 
Melchior  Keener,  Andrew  Steiger,  George  Decker,  Peter 
Diffenderfer,  Nicholas  Tchudy  and  others  were  the  active 
committee  in  the  erection  of  the  new  church,  which  was 
50  by  80  feet  in  dimension,  with  a  steeple  about  200  feet 
high,  with  three  bells  weighing  forty-five  hundred  pounds 
and  a  large  clock,  which  became  known  as  the  Town 
Clock.  The  cornerstone  of  this  new  church  was  laid  the 
28th  day  of  April,  1 796,  and  it  was  finished  in  September, 
1797.  The  congregation  increased  in  membership  and 
influence.  Many  of  its  members  were  in  the  second,  third 
and  even  fourth  generation  in  this  country  and  had  grad- 
ually become  estranged  from  the  German  mother  tongue. 
The  incessant  strife  of  languages  for  domination  had  been 
going  on.  The  English  is  the  official  and  dominant  lan- 
guage of  our  country,  but  it  was  not  the  exclusive 
language  spoken  by  its  first  settlers  nor  is  it  to  this  day 
the  common  vernacular  in  every  part  of  the  United  States. 
In  Maryland,  and  especially  in  Baltimore,  the  German 
language  spoken  by  a  respectable  minority  of  its  citizens 
was  always  recognized  by  the  authorities  with  a  friendly 
disposition,  the  surest  and  only  way  to  overcome  it.  The 
intense,  often  fanatical,  love  which  men  have  for  the  lan- 
guage of  their  parents  or  rather  of  their  mothers,  grows 
out  of  the  subconscious  memory  of  the  sweet  words  of 
love  caresses  and  kindness  received  in  their  infancy.  If 
he  is  raised  in  a  community  where  largely  different  lan- 
guage is  also  friendly  spoken  to  him  in  childhood,  it  takes 
but  one  or  two  generations  and  he  will  lose  his  attach- 


52  HISTORY  OF  THE 

ment  for  his  mother  language  and  so  it  came  that  in 
February,  1818,  Dr.  Michel  Diffenderfer  and  thirty-five 
other  •members  of  the  First  German  Reformed  Congrega- 
tion petitioned  the  consistory  for  permission  to  have  Eng- 
lish preaching  in  the  church  on  every  Sabbath  afternoon. 
The  Synod  granted  the  petition.  This  caused  a  great 
deal  of  excitement  and  trouble.  A  committee  consisting 
of  Peter  Diffenderfer  and  Jacob  Hoffman  invited  Rev. 
Lewis  Meyer  to  pay  them  a  visit  and  preach  in  German 
and  English.  On  a  Sabbath  morning  in  the  month  of 
September,  1818,  Dr.  Meyer  preached  a  sermon  in  the 
German  language  to  a  very  large  congregation,  and  in  the 
afternoon  preached  another  in  the  English  language  to  an 
immense  concourse  of  people.  The  excitement  was  in- 
tense. The  members  who  feared  the  extinguishment  of 
the  German  language  in  their  church  charged  it  being 
done  in  violation  of  the  charter  and  founding  of  the 
church  to  have  English  preaching  and  some  of  them 
threatened  violence  to  the  minister.  Their  fears  were 
well  grounded,  for,  within  ten  years  thereafter,  in  1827, 
the  last  sermon  in  the  German  language  was  preached  in 
this  church.  It  became  exclusively  English  in  language, 
known  as  the  First  English  Reformed  Church,  but  lost  in 
membership  and  influence. 

Different  was  the  course  of  the  German  Evangelical 
Lutheran  Zion  Congregation,  which  was  organized  about 
the  same  time  the  Reformed  Church  was  organized 
(1750)  and  continues  to  the  present  day  to  worship  in 
the  German  language,  a  vigorous  large  congregation. 

In  the  year  1773,  it  adopted  a  new  constitution  and  by- 
laws, which  were  subscribed  by  one  hundred  and  forty- 


53 

seven  members.  We  find  among  these  subscribers  the 
names  of  many  of  our  prominent  families  of  our  city  of 
the  present  day.  In  1808  it  erected  the  church  building 
on  Gay  street,  between  Saratoga  and  Lexington  streets, 
on  a  lot  of  ground  extending  to  Holliday  street.  The 
dimension  of  the  building  is  99  feet  in  length  by  75  feet 
in  width.  The  costs  were  $36,750.69,  paid  by  the  con- 
tribution of  265  of  its  members,,  whereof  we  have  a  com- 
plete list,  published  in  Second  Annual  Report  of  the 
Society  for  the  History  of  the  Germans  in  Maryland, 
pages  57  to  75. 


54  HISTORY  OF  THE 


IN  TIME  OF  WAR  AND  FAMINE. 

In  1814,  when  the  war  of  Great  Britian  with  our 
country  had  lasted  for  more  than  a  year  and  the  English 
had  suffered  keenly  from  the  many  privateers  fitted  out 
in  our  harbor,  Admiral  Warren  of  the  British  Navy  said : 
"Baltimore  is  a  doomed  town." 

The  English  came  with  a  fleet  of  more  than  seventy 
ships  to  destroy  Baltimore  and,  on  Sunday,  September 
nth,  1814,  anchored  off  North  Point  twelve  miles  from 
the  city  and,  on  the  next  day,  landed  about  7,000  men  of 
infantry,  artillery,  marines  and  sailors  fully  equipped  for 
battle  and  advanced  toward  the  city. 

Their  warships  proceeding  up  the  Patapsco  to  bom- 
bard the  city  from  the  river,  to  assist  the  army  in  the 
work  of  capture  and  destruction. 

The  city  had  heard  of  the  threats  and  was  informed  of 
the  design  of  the  enemy  and  prepared  to  make  a  heroic 
defense.  In  August,  1814,  a  committee  of  vigilance  and 
safety  of  30,  whereof  the  mayor  of  the  city  was  chair- 
man, the  following  citizens  of  German  birth  or  descent 
were  members  of  this  committee :  Henry  Stauffer,  Solo- 
mon Etting,  William  Lorman,  Adam  Fonerden,  Fred- 
erick Schaeffer,  George  Woelper,  Herman  Alrichs  and 
George  Warner.  Philip  Cronmiller,  Ludwig  Hering, 
Frederick  Leypold,  Henry  Schroeder,  Peter  Gold  and 
George  Decker  were  among  the  superintendents  of  work 
for  the  erection  of  the  fortifications.  Peter  Diffenderf- 
fer,  William  Brown  and  Daniel  Diffenderffer  were  mem- 
bers of  the  committee  on  relief,  and  Christian  Keller, 


GERMAN  SOCIETY  OF  MARYLAND  55 

Henry  Schroeder,  Balzer  Schaeffer  and  Jacob  Miller 
were  members  of  the  ward  committees.  Not  less  did 
these  citizens  show  their  patriotism  and  valor  in  defense 
of  our  city,  to  drive  back  the  foreign  invader  by  force  of 
arms,  marching  out  of  the  city  to  give  battle  to  the 
enemy.  General  John  Strieker,  commanded  the  brigade, 
which  bore  the  brunt  of  the  battle  of  North  Point  on  the 
1 2th  of  September.  There  was  no  regular  army  on  the 
American  side,  they  were  all  citizens'  militia  and  volun- 
teers, among  them  were  "The  First  Baltimore  Light  In- 
fantry," organized  by  Captain  Mackenheimer.  an  officer 
in  the  continental  army  in  the  War  of  Independence  and 
later  promoted  colonel.  Captain  John  Schirm  com- 
manded the  company  in  1814;  "The  Independent  Com- 
pany," organized  1792  by  Captain  John  Strieker;  The 
Baltimore  Jagers,  commanded  by  Captain  Philip  S.  Sadt- 
ler,  the  Union  Jagers  by  Capt.  Domiinic  Bader,  a  com- 
pany called  the  Gray  Jagers,  the  Maryland  Cavalry,  com- 
manded by  Capt.  Jacob  Baer,  the  5ist  Regiment,  Md.  M., 
commanded  by  Colonel  Henry  Amey,  who  signed  his 
orders  Amich,  and  was  a  member  of  the  Germ.  Ev.  Zion 
Church;  Captains  Haubert,  Michel  Peters,  Andrew 
Smith,  J.  Matthews,  Daniel  Schwarzauer,  George 
Stoever,  John  D.  Miller,  Thomas  Warner,  Andrew  C. 
Warner  and  Henry  Meyer,  commanded  companies  in 
various  regiments.  We  find  their  names  again  as  mem- 
bers of  the  German  Society.  Our  citizens  of  German 
birth  and  descent  have  at  all  times  and  in  every  emer- 
gency proven  to  be  true  Americans,  devoted  to  liberty 
and  to  the  free  institutions  of  our  country:  shoulder  to 
shoulder  with  their  fellow-citizens,  in  time  of  peace  and 


56  HISTORY  OF  THE 

time  of  war  they  have  striven  and  fought  for  the  welfare 
of  the  nation  and  of  the  community  they  lived  in. 

The  long  series  of  the  Napoleonic  wars  in  Europe 
where  Germany  had  been  the  principal  battle  ground 
came  to  an  end,  and  the  United  States  made  peace  with 
England.  The  inhabitants  of  these  countries  could 
again  pursue  their  peaceful  industries,  cultivate  the  soil, 
repair  their  shattered  fortunes  or  traverse  the  ocean  with- 
out molestation,  to  seek  new  homes  and  better  conditions 
of  life. 

The  old  fatherland  had  been  impoverished  and  devas- 
tated by  the  ravages  of  war,  peace  now  gave  assurance  to 
the  peasant  cultivating  the  waste  fields,  that  he  could  reap 
the  harvest  of  his  crops  without  them  being  destroyed  by 
passing  troops  or  confiscated  for  the  armies.  A  still 
greater  calamity,  however,  fell  upon  these  poor  people. 
For  several  years  after  the  end  of  the  wars  in  1816,  1817 
and  1818,  the  crops  failed  in  northern  and  central 
Europe.  Years  of  famine  and  general  destitution  pre- 
vailed in  Germany;  the  price  of  a  pound  of  bread  rose  to 
twenty  cents,  the  poor  people  had  not  the  money  and  to 
save  themselves  from  starvation  they  would  eat  boiled 
weeds  and  grasses,  this  caused  sickness  and  many  per- 
ished. It  was  then  after  an  interruption  of  about  forty 
years,  1776  to  1816,  in  the  immigration,  that  the 

GREAT  IQTH  CENTURY  IMMIGRATION 

of  people  from  Germany  to  the  United  States  commenced. 
The  Labadists,  Quakers,  Menonites,  Dunkers,  Schwenk- 
felders,  Moravians,  Salzburgers  and  most  of  the  palatines 
of  seventeenth  and  eighteenth  centuries  had  left  Germany 
to  escape  religious  intolerance  and  cruel  persecution. 


GERMAN  SOCIETY  OF  MARYLAND  57 

Now  it  was  the  economic  condition,  to  escape  a  famine 
stricken  country  which  caused  about  60,000*  persons  in 
the  years  1817-18  to  leave  their  fatherland  for  the  hospi- 
table shore  of  America.  Most  of  them  came  from 
Wtirtemberg  and  the  Rhenish  countries,  wandering  along 
the  roads  with  their  scant  household  goods  and  baggage 
in  horse  carts  or  floating  in  barges  down  the  river  Rhine, 
bound  for  the  ports  of  Holland  to  cross  the  Atlantic. 
They  were  mostly  peasants  and  artisans,  strong  and 
healthy  in  body,  industrious  and  frugal  in  habits,  but  im- 
poverished by  years  of  war  and  famine,  they  had  not  the 
money  to  pay  the  passage  on  the  ships,  but  very  desirable 
passengers  to  be  sold  as  redemptioners  on  their  arrival  in 
America.  About  the  middle  of  the  month  of  November, 
1816,  upward  of  three  hundred  of  these  immigrants,  men, 
women  and  children  arrived  at  the  city  of  Amsterdam  to 
seek  passage  to  America.  The  Dutch  ship  "Jufvrow 
Johanna,"  Capt.  H.  H.  Bleeker,  offered  them  passage  to 
Baltimore,  most  of  them  had  not  the  money  to  pay  for 
the  passage  and  came  as  redemptioners.  The  ship  sailed 
with  its  living  freight  on  its  perilous  voyage  in  the  midst 
of  winter.  This  winter  is  recorded  as  one  of  the  coldest 
ever  known.  The  chronicles  of  Germany  relate  that 
the  birds  froze  to  death  in  the  air  and  the  game  perished 
in  the  forests.  In  Baltimore,  the  thermometer  on  Feb- 
ruary 5th,  1817,  registered  five  degrees  above  zero,  on 
the  6th,  1 3th,  I5th  and  I7th  at  zero,  on  the  I4th  four  de- 
grees below,  and  on  the  i6th  four  degrees  above  zero. 
The  Chesapeake  Bay  was  frozen  from  shore  to  shore.  It 
was  in  this  terrible  weathei  that  the  ship  "Juiroun 

*Loher's  History,  255. 


c^8  HISTORY  OF  THE 

Johanna"  with  its  300  emigrants,  after  fifteen  weeks  buf- 
feting the  tempestuous  Atlantic  Ocean  on  its  trip  from 
Amsterdam  in  the  first  days  of  February,  1817,  worked 
its  way  in  the  capes  and  up  the  bay  as  far  as  off  Annapo- 
lis, where  it  became  ice-bound. 

The  ship  had  become  short  of  provisions,  and  the  pas- 
sengers upon  making  the  capes,  seeing  the  promised  land 
so  near  in  their  exultation  of  being  shortly  released  from 
their  long  captivity  in  the  dark  hold  of  the  ship  by  land- 
ing in  Baltimore,  had  thrown  their  bedding,  which  had 
become  filthy,  overboard;  misery  and  acute  suffering 
from  cold  and  hunger  set  in.  Communication  with  the 
shore  being  established,  the  condition  of  these  poor  people 
became  known. 

A  humane  gentleman  of  Annapolis,  thereupon,  on  Feb- 
ruary 7th,  inserted  the  following  appeal  in  the  Baltimore 
American,  addressed  "To  citizens  generally  and  to  be- 
nevolent Societies  " 

"A  ship  with  upward  of  300  German  men,  women  and 
children  has  arrived  off  Annapolis,  where  she  is  detained 
by  ice.  These  people  have  been  fifteen  weeks  on  board  and 
are  short  of  provision.  Upon  making  the  Capes,  their  bed- 
ding having  become  filthy,  was  thrown  overboard.  They 
are  now  actually  perishing  from  the  cold  and  want  of  pro- 
vision." 

On  the  next  day,  February  8th,  the  following  adver- 
tisement appeared  in  the  same  paper : 

GERMAN  REDEMPTIONERS. 

The  Dutch  ship,  "Jufvrow  Johanna,"  Capt.  H.  H.  Bleeker, 
has  arrived  off  Annapolis  from  Amsterdam  with  a  number 


GERMAN  SOCIETY  OF  MARYLAND  59 

of  passengers,  principally  farmers  and  mechanics  of  all 
sorts,  and  several  fine  young  boys  and  girls,  whose  time  will 
be  disposed  of.  Mr.  Bolte,  ship  broker  of  Baltimore,  will 
attend  on  board  at  Annapolis,  to  whom  those  who  wish  to 
supply  themselves  with  good  servants,  will  please  apply ; 
also  to  Capt.  Bleeker  on  board. 

The  ship  with  the  passengers  aboard  remained  ice- 
bound, in  the  bay  off  Annapolis  for  about  six  weeks.  It 
was  not  until  the  2ist  day  of  March,  when  the  following 
advertisement  appeared  in  "The  Baltimore  American." 

GERMAN   REDEMPTIONERS. 

The  Dutch  ship  "Johanna,"  Capt.  H.  H.  Bleeker,  has 
arrived  before  this  City  and  lies  now  in  the  cove  of  Wieg- 
man's  Wharf ;  there  are  on  board,  desirous  of  binding  them- 
selves for  their  passage,  the  following  single  men :  two  cap- 
ital blacksmiths,  a  ropemaker,  a  carrier,  a  smart  apothecary, 
a  tailor,  a  good  man  to  cook,  several  young  men  as  waiters, 
etc.  Among  those  with  families  are  gardeners,  weavers,  a 
stone  mason,  a  miller,  a  baker,  a  sugar  baker,  farmers  and 
other  professions,  etc. 

This  appeared  daily  in  the  "American''  until  the  7th 
day  of  April  following,  when,  it  may  be  presumed  the 
last  of  these  redemptionists,  five  months  after  they 
shipped  from  Amsterdam,  were  disposed  of. 

On  the  1 3th  of  February,  another  strong  appeal  was 
made  in  the  Federal  Gazette  and  Baltimore  Daily  Adver- 
tiser bv  one  who  sisrns  himself  a  German  descendant,  for 

J  ^ 

aid  of  the  distressed  emigrants  on  board  of  the  ship 
"Johanna"  ice-bound  in  the  bay.  The  same  paper  con- 


60  HISTORY  OF  THE 

tained  a  call  for  a  meeting  of  Germans  and  descendants 
of  Germans  to  be  held  at  Kaminsky's  Hotel  on  Bank  near 
Light  street,  that  evening,  at  6.30  P.  M.  to  organize  for 
the  better  protection  and  assistance  of  German  emigrants. 

The  meeting  was  attended  by  many  influential  and 
wealthy  citizens.  Among  the  organizers  and  first  mem- 
bers of  the  society  we  find  General  John  Strieker,  the 
commanding  general  of  the  Maryland  Militia  and  an  offi- 
cer of  the  Revolutionary  War;  the  merchants,  Christian 
Mayer,  B.  J.  von  Kappf,  Heinrich  Schroeder,  Louis 
Brantz,  Frederick  Leypold,  Johann  Hoffman,  Frederick 
W.  Brune,  Michael  Kimmel,  F.  L.  E.  Amelung,  the 
founder  of  the  first  glass  furnace  in  the  State;  William 
Krebs,  John  Frick,  Samuel  Keerl,  John  F.  Fries,  Peter 
Sauerwein,  Frederick  Waesche,  Jesse  Eichelberger,  Dr. 
Diffenderffer,  Justus  Hoppe,  Lewis  Mayer,  Philip  D. 
Sadtler,  J.  J.  Cohen,  Samuel  Etting,  Conrad  Schultz,  Dr. 
A.  J.  Schwartz,  Benjamin  J.  Cohen,  Charles  W.  Kart- 
haus,  Lawrence  Thomson;  the  eminent  attorneys,  David 
Hoffman,  William  Frick  and  Charles  F.  Mayer.  Chris- 
tian Mayer  presided  and  William  Frick,  Esq.,  acted  as 
secretary. 

The  descendants  of  most  of  these  are  still  living  in 
our  midst  and  maintain  the  high  character,  the  virtues 
and  influence  of  their  ancestors.  Strieker,  Waesche, 
Schroeder,  Hoffman,  Etting,  Warner,  Brune  and  Decker 
streets  perpetuate  some  of  these  names  in  our  city. 

This  meeting  was  the  revival  of  "The  German  Society 
of  Maryland,"  which  for  a  number  of  years,  whilst  there 
was  no  immigration,  had  been  dormant. 


GERMAN  SOCIETY  OF  MARYLAND  61 

At  the  next  meeting  of  the  society,  which  was  held  on 
the  1 8th  of  February,  1817,  a  constitution  was  adopted, 
and  at  the  following  meeting  on  the  3rd  of  March  the 
following  board  of  officers  were  elected :  President, 
Christian  Mayer;  vice-presidents,  Dr.  A.  J.  Schwartz,  B. 
J.  von  Kappf,  Heinrich  Schroeder  and  General  John 
Strieker ;  managers,  Justus  Hoppe,  Louis  Brantz,  Conrad 
Schultz,  Jacob  Small,  F.  L.  E.  Amelung,  William  Krebs, 
John  F.  Frick,  Samuel  Keerl,  John  F.  Friese,  Peter  Sauer- 
wein,  Michael  Kimmel  and  Jesse  Eichelberger ;  secretary 
of  the  society,  Louis  Mayer;  secretary  of  the  officers, 
Lawrence  Thomson ;  treasurer,  Friedrich  Waesche ;  coun- 
sellors, David  Hofljmari  and  William  Frick,  Esqs. ;  physi- 
cians, John  George  Wolf  and  Jacob  Baer.  The  objects 
of  the  society  were  declared  to  be :  The  protection  and 
assistance  of  poor  emigrants  from  Germany  and  Switzer- 
land and  of  their  descendants  who  may  reside  in  the  State 
of  Maryland  or  be  temporarily  sojourning  therein. 

One  hundred  and  forty-nine  citizens  (see  appendix), 
being  natives  of  Germany  or  Switzerland  or  the  de- 
scendants of  such  natives,  subscribed  their  names  to  the 
constitution  of  the  society. 

That  it  was  not  only  the  suffering  of  emigrants  on 
board  of  the  ship  "Juffrow  Johanna,"  but  the  system  of 
redemptioners  at  that  time  which  was  the  cause  of  these 
good  men  to  combine  to  remedy  the  evil,  appears  from  the 
many  advertisements  which  appeared  in  the  newspapers 
of  those  days.  I  have  selected  but  a  few,  culled  from  the 
"Baltimore  American"  of  the  months  of  March  and 
April,  1817. 


62  HISTORY  OF  THE 

On  March  3  a  reward  is  offered  for  the  capture  of  a 
German  redemptioner,  a  tailor,  who  absconded  from 
Washington.  And  the  following: 

FOR  SALE  OR  HIRE. 

A  German  Redemptioner,  for  the  term  of  two  years.  He 
is  a  stout,  healthy  man  and  well  acquainted  with  farming, 
wagon  driving  and  the  management  of  horses.  For  further 
particulars,  apply  to 

C.  R.  GREEN,  Auctioneer. 

On  March  1 1  Patrick  McCrystal  offers  $30  reward  for 
the  capture  of  a  German  redemptioner,  a  bricklayer. 

On  March  13  Aquila  H.  Sparks  offers  $50  reward  for 
an  absconded  German  redemptioner.  On  April  n  the 
following : 

GERMAN  REDEMPTIONER. — $30  REWARD. 
Absconded  from  the  subscriber  on  Sunday,  the  5th  inst., 
a  German  Redemptioner,  who  arrived  here  in  November 
last,  by  name  of  Maurice  Schumacher,  about  30  years  of 
age,  5  feet,  9  inches,  well  proportioned,  good  countenance, 
but  rather  pale  in  complexion,  short  hair,  has  a  very  genteel 
suit  of  clothes,  by  trade  a  cabinet  maker,  but  has  been  em- 
ployed by  me  in  the  making  of  brushes.  He  is  a  good  Ger- 
man scholar,  understands  French  and  Latin,  an  excellent 
workman,  speaks  English  imperfectly.  $30  reward  if  lodged 
in  jail. 

JAS.  M.  STAPLETON, 

Brush   Maker,    139  Baltimore   St. 

The  first  meeting  of  the  board  of  managers,  comprised 
of  the  fifteen  officers  of  the  society,  was  held  March  6, 


GERMAN  SOCIETY  OF  MARYLAND  63 

1817,  all  members  present.  Resolutions  were  adopted: 
that  a  majority  of  the  members  present  at  a  meeting  of 
the  board  shall  decide,  the  president  on  all  occasions  to  be 
entitled  to  vote.  David  Hoffman,  Esq.,  and  William 
Frick,  Esq.,  were  unanimously  elected  counsellors,  and 
Dr.  John  G.  Wolff  and  Dr.  Jacob  Baer  elected  physicians 
of  the  society;  that  the  constitution  of  the  society  be 
printed;  that  subscriptions  be  solicited  from  natives  of 
Germany  and  Switzerland,  or  their  descendants,  living* 
within  this  State,  and  the  constitution  of  the  society  be 
published  in  newspapers  of  the  city  and  two  newspapers 
in  Fredericktown  and  Hagerstown;  that  all  officiating 
German  clergymen  residing  within  this  State  shall  be  con- 
sidered honorary  members  of  this  society;  that  two  thou- 
sand dollars  ($2,000.00)  of  the  fund  of  the  society  be 
forthwith  invested  in  United  States  stock.  A  communi- 
cation from  a  certain  Mr.  Amy,  of  Georgetown,  accom- 
panied by  a  deposition  before  a  magistrate  relative  to  cer- 
tain grievances  of  a  German  family  by  the  name  of  Kraft, 
lately  arrived  in  the  Dutch  ship  "Johanna,"  Captain 
Bleeker,  off  Annapolis,  against  the  said  captain  was  re- 
ferred to  the  counsellors  of  the  society. 

The  president  on  the  next  day  consulted  the  legal  coun- 
sellors, Hoffman  and  Frick,  of  the  society  and  gave  the 
following  direction  in  writing : 


To  Messrs.  Conrad  Schultz, 
L.  E.  Amelung, 
Peter  Sauerwein 


Managers  of  the  German 

Society 
of  Maryland. 


After  a  consultation  held  yesterday  with  the  counsellors 
for  the  Society,  I  beg  you  that  just  before  and  immediately 


64  HISTORY  OF  THE 

after  the  arrival  in  this  port  of  Captain  Bleeker,  you  make 
exhaustive  inquiry  and  gather  all  legal  evidence  concerning 
the  following  three  offenses  for  which  the  captain  may  be 
prosecuted ;  according  to  reports — legal  evidence  of  which 
is  not  lacking. 

ist. — That  from  the  start  of  the  voyage  of  the  ship 
"Juffrow  Johanna,"  the  passengers  neither  in  sufficient 
quantity  nor  quality,  received  the  provisions  stipulated  in 
the  contract. 

2nd. — That  the  captain  ignoring  the  contract,  arbitrar- 
ily demanded  of  several  passengers  a  larger  sum  for  their 
passage,  than  had  been  agreed  upon,  and  whereby  they 
were  in  the  true  sense  of  the  word  sold  and  not  released 
from  their  debt,  as  it  should  have  been. 

yd. — That  the  captain  seized  and  possessed  himself  of 
the  clothes  and  effects  of  the  passengers  who  died  on  board. 

Baltimore,  March  8th,  1817. 
CHRISTIAN  MAYER, 

President. 
L.  THOMSEN, 

Secretary  of  the  Board. 

The  next  entry  in  the  Record  Book  reads : 

William  Frick,  Esq.  is  requested  to  bring  suits  against 
the  Master  of  the  Netherland  ship  "Jufirow  Johanna"  upon 
all  the  documents  in  his  possession. 
Baltimore,  March  31,  1817, 

approved 
C.  MEYER,  President. 

Louis  BRANTZ, 
CONRAD  SCHULTZ, 
Managers  of  the  German  Society. 


GERMAN  SOCIETY  OF  MARYLAND  65 

The  ship  "Juffrow  Johanna"  had  sailed  for  Baltimore, 
and  the  redemptioners  expected  and  had  the  legal  right  to 
enter  their  redeeming  service  only  in  this  city  and  State, 
but  Capt.  Bleeker,  by  advertisement,  which  appeared  from 
February  24th  to  March  3rd  in  the  Alexandria  Gazette, 
in  the  State  of  Virginia,  and  in  the  National  Intelligence 
in  the  District  of  Columbia,  offered  his  passengers  to  be 
sold  for  their  passage  money  and  did  sell  them  at  the 
board  of  his  vessel  in  the  bay  off  Annapolis,  to  Virginia 
and  the  District  of  Columbia,  without  having  entered  the 
port  of  Baltimore.  This  being  a  clear  violation  of  the 
law  and  of  the  terms  of  their  contracts,  some  of  the  re- 
demptioners sold  to  these  places,  by  letters,  appealed  to 
the  society  for  its  assistance  and  for  redress.  The 
society  took  energetic  action  by  bringing  their  cause  be- 
fore the  United  States  court,  and  thus  the  poor  redemp- 
tioners fleeing  from  a  famine  stricken  country,  bound  by 
the  harsh  terms  of  a  legal  contract  to  years  of  servitude, 
ignorant  of  the  language  and  the  laws  of  a  country  then 
foreign  to  them,  without  means  and  in  the  greatest  dis- 
tress, found  in  the  German  Society  friends,  able,  willing 
and  ready  to  help,  to  protect  them  in  their  legal  rights 
against  the  abuses  of  the  master  of  the  vessel  who 
brought  them  here  and  the  master  who  bought  them  on 
their  arrival,  by  the  assistance  of  the  best  legal  talent  of 
its  eminent  counsellors-at-law.  The  president  of  the 
society,  Mr.  Christian  Mayer,  a  prominent  merchant,  con- 
sul-general of  the  Kingdom  of  Wtirtemberg,  etc.,  came 
from  a  renowned  family  of  the  old  city  of  Ulm,  Germany, 
in  1784  to  Baltimore.  He  was  a  man  of  great  energy 
and  keen  intellect,  in  deep  sympathy  with  the  misery  and 
suffering  of  the  redemptioners.  The  secretary,  Mr. 


66  HISTORY  OF  THE 

Lawrence  Thomson,  was  also  a  man  of  marked  ability, 
equally  versed  in  German  and  English  language,  worked 
with  no  less  zeal  in  the  humane  cause ;  these  officers  were 
supported  by  a  board  of  managers,  consisting  of  promi- 
nent citizens.  They  invoked  the  aid  of  the  law  to  punish 
those  who  committed  acts  of  wanton  violence  on  redemp- 
tioners  and  caused  the  sick  to  be  removed  at  their  expense 
to  the  hospital,  but  they  could  not,  under  the  law,  prevent 
that  these  poor  people  were  sold  on  their  arrival  pro- 
miscuously, often  at  public  sale,  to  whosoever  would  pay 
to  the  captain  their  passage  money  and  take  them  to  parts 
unknown.  Thereby  families  were  separated  the  mem- 
bers sold  singly  to  different  buyers,  without  knowing 
what  had  become  of  each  other.  In  the  Broening  case, 
hereinafter  stated,  the  two  infant  sons  were  sold  to  a 
farmer  in  Queen  Anne's  county,  Maryland,  and  their 
parents  to  a  farmer  in  Pennsylvania.  No  public  record 
was  kept  of  these  sales,  nor  of  the  contracts  under  which 
they  were  bound,  nor  was  a  duplicate  of  the  contract 
furnished  to  each  of  the  redemptioners  sold.  These  con- 
tracts were  in  the  Dutch  language  and  the  German  and 
Swiss  redemptioners  being  ignorant  of  the  Dutch  and 
English  languages,  were  completely  at  the  mercy  of  an 
unscrupulous  crafty  master,  who  took  them  to  distant 
parts,  away  from  their  friends.  It  was,  therefore,  of  the 
first  importance  that  laws  should  be  passed  to  remedy 
these  evils  and  a  committee  consisting  of  the  president 
and  the  two  counsellors  of  the  society  was  elected  to 
secure  at  the  next  session  of  the  legislature  of  Maryland 
the  enactment  of  a  body  of  laws  and  regulat'ons  for  the 
protection  of  German  and  Swiss  emigrants  arriving  in 
the  State  of  Maryland. 


GERMAN  SOCIETY  OF  MARYLAND  67 

In  the  meantime  the  society  found  enough  work  on 
their  hands  under  the  existing  laws. 

The  following  letters  I  have  copied  from  the  record 
and  minute  book  of  the  board  of  managers  of  the  society. 
I  have  selected  only  such  letters  as  by  their  contents 
throw  light  on  or  give  information  of  the  fate  of  some  of 
these  redemptioners,  and  on  the  manner  of  the  officers  in 
dealing  with  their  grievances  and  rendering  them  assist- 
ance. 

On  May  29,  1817,  the  president  of  the  society  addressed 
the  following  letter  to  one  W.  Martin  Gillet : 

Sir: — The  bearer,  John  Bernet,  has  applied  to  the  Ger- 
man Society  for  their  aid  in  a  complaint  he  has  against 
you.  They  have  referred  him  to  one  of  their  counsels,  who 
is  of  opinion,  that  you  have  no  right  to  the  servitude  of 
Bernet's  children.  The  officers  of  the  Society  wish  to  in- 
form you  of  this  opinion  of  their  counsel,  and  to  invite  you 
to  an  amicable  arrangement  of  the  business  if  possible  by 
reference  or  otherwise.  Bernet  is  willing  to  pay  whatever 
impartial  person  may  think  him  indebted  to  you  for  his 
children  and  begs  that  you  will  cease  sending  officers  of 
Justice  after  him.  Your  reply,  written  or  verbal,  if  you  are 
disposed  to  settle  the  difference  in  a  friendly  manner,  will 
oblige,  etc. 

This  affair  seems  to  have  been  amicably  arranged,  for 
no  further  complaint  is  made. 

On  July  17,  1817,  he  sent  the  following  letter  to  Mr. 
Solomon  Davis,  Marble  Quarry,  Montgomery  county: 

Sir: — Yesterday,  I  received  your  letter  of  the  9th  inst. 
The  man  you  mention  has  been  to  see  me  about  three  weeks 


68  HISTORY  OF  THE 

ago.  He  complained  plausible  enough,  not  only  of  ill  usage, 
but  also  of  the  hardship  of  being  put  to  work,  which  he  hav- 
ing a  rupture,  it  was  physically  impossible  for  him  to  do. 
He  has  stated  that  he  would  make  up  the  money  which 
has  been  paid  for  his  passage  from  Europe.  I  answered 
him  that  the  German  Society  could  not  interfere,  especially, 
if  his  employer  resided  in  the  District  of  Columbia,  or  in 
Virginia,  which  he  could  not  tell,  that  he  must  apply  to  a 
magistrate  and  a  court  &c.  I  finally  advised  him  to  return 
to  his  service  and  tender  the  money  he  could  procure.  I 
am  glad  to  find  that  he  at  least  so  far  followed  my  advice 
as  to  return  and  I  am  sorry  to  learn  that  he  absconded  again. 
These  poor  people,  sir,  are  ignorant  of  the  laws  of  this 
State  and  the  manners  and  customs  of  its  inhabitants.  At 
least  of  those  of  British  origin  and  descent  make  no  dif- 
ference between  white  servants  and  black  slaves,  and  when 
they  are  treated  accordingly,  they  fancy  themselves  ill 
used, — which  to  be  sure  is  inconvenient  to  their  masters. 
A  servant  of  mine  is  a  native  of  the  same  village,  in  Suabia, 
from  which  your  man  came.  I  interrogated  him  on  receipt 
of  your  letter  about  your  man  whose  name  I  understood  is 
Thies.  My  servant  assured  me  that  he  did  not  see  nor 
hear  of  him  since  he  was  with  me  last  month,  etc.,  etc. 
I  am  respectfully  sir, 

Your  most  obedient  servant, 

CHRISTIAN  MAYER, 
President  of  German  Society 
of  Maryland. 

Letter  to  Charles  Ridgely,  Jr.,  Esq. : 

July  1 5th,  1817. 

Sir : — The  bearer  has  been  referred  to  me  by  two  officers 
of  the  German  Society,  which  has  made  it  my  duty  as  pres- 


GERMAN  SOCIETY  OF  MARYLAND  69 

ident  of  this  society  to  take  notice  of  his  case.  It  is  to  be 
lamented,  that  the  want  of  understanding  the  language  is 
frequently  the  occasion  of  injustice  on  part  of  the  master 
and  more  frequently  his  agents,  and  of  impropriety  of  con- 
duct on  the  part  of  the  servant.  Where  this  is  the  case, 
it  has  generally  been  found  the  interest  of  the  master  to 
suffer  the  servant  to  seek  another  employer,  as  seldom  any 
good  has  resulted  from  coercion.  I  understand  that  you 
have  consented  to  release  this  man  on  condition  of  his  re- 
funding what  you  paid  for  his  family.  It  will  be  impossible 
in  the  short  space  of  time  you  have  allowed  him,  to  procure 
either  the  money  or  security  for  its  payment.  Mr.  W.  J.  C. 
Karthaus  who  has  a  new  settlement  in  Pennsylvania,  has 
offered  to  take  him  and  his  family  there  at  his  expense,  to 
employ  them  at  the  highest  wages,  and  to  retain  from  that 
a  portion  toward  the  debt  due  you,  for  which  he  will  ac- 
count to  the  society  to  be  refunded  to  you.  We  have  no 
doubt  in  the  course  of  a  reasonable  time  the  man  will  be 
able  to  discharge  his  debt  toward  you  and  I  think  you  run 
little  hazard  letting  him  go  on  these  terms.  I  have  the 
honor,  etc.,  etc. 

CHRISTIAN  MAYER, 
President  of  the  G.  S.  of  Md. 

In  this  manner  the  society  did  its  utmost  under  the  cir- 
cumstances to  aid  and  relieve  emigrants  in  distress.  1 1 
was  not  incorporated  and  had  no  legal  standing  in  the 
courts  of  law.  The  laws  as  afore-remarked  were  utterly 
inadequate  to  give  the  redemptioners  the  protection  and 
the  remedies  they  were  entitled  to  in  a  Christian  civilized 
country.  The  legislature  was  not  in  session  and  would 
not  meet  until  December,  1817,  when  the  appea.  for  a 


70  HISTORY  OF  THE 

charter  of  the  society  and  the  carefully  prepared  laws  by 
the  counsellors,  Messrs.  Hoffman  and  Frick,  and  the 
president  for  the  remedy  of  the  evils  complained  of  could 
be  submitted  to  be  enacted. 

It  was  the  constant  effort  of  the  society  to  increase  its 
influence,  membership  and  to  raise  funds  to  carry  on  its 
noble  work.  By  a  resolution  of  the  board  and  letters  of 
the  president,  Dr.  J.  Baer,  of  Fredericktown,  and  Dr. 
Schnebly,  of  Hagerstown,  were  kindly  requested  to  solicit 
subscriptions  among  the  many  German  and  Swiss  and 
descendants  of  them  who  were  settled  in  those  towns  and 
vicinity  by  publishing  the  constitution  and  proceedings  of 
the  society  in  the  German  newspapers  then  published  in 
their  respective  towns. 

To  make  the  membership  more  attractive  by  social 
features,  a  grand  banquet  was  arranged  and  held  at 
Johann  A.  Kaminsky's  Hotel,  on  Bank  street,  on  Friday, 
the  26th  day  of  December,  1817.  It  was  attended  by 
most  all  the  prominent  German-Americans  of  the  city. 
Thirteen  official  toasts  were  on  the  program  and  after 
each  toast  an  appropriate  popular  song.  The  first  toast 
was  "To  the  Land  We  Live  In,"  the  song,  "Ubi  bene, 
ibi  patria." 

It  seems  "The  Star  Spangled  Banner,"  which  only  n 
few  years  before  had  been  composed  in  our  city,  had  not 
yet  become  widely  known,  for,  thereafter,  it  was  gen- 
erally in  the  regular  order  at  each  of  their  banquets. 

"To  the  Land  of  our  Ancestors"  was  the  second  toast, 
and  "To  the  German  Confederation  (Bund)"  the  third; 
iburth,  "German  Industry  and  Honesty;"  may  both  be- 
come proverbial  in  this  country.  Fifth,  "German  art  and 


GERMAN  SOCIETY  OF  MARYLAND  71 

invention."  Sixth,  To  the  memory  of  George  Washing- 
ton. Seventh,  To  the  memory  of  Benjamin  Franklin. 
Eighth,  To  the  memory  of  Luther,  Zwingli  and  Arch- 
bishop Dalberg.  Ninth,  "To  the  memory  of  Frederick 
the  Great,  not  as  a  conqueror,  but  as  wisest  of  monarch* 
and  first  servant  of  the  people  of  his  country."  Tenth. 
"To  the  memory  of  the  Muhlenbergs  and  all  German- 
Americans  who  distinguished  themselves  in  the  cause  of 
Liberty,  Religion  and  Science."  Eleventh,  "All  emigrants, 
may  they  never  be  ungrateful  to  the  country  which 
adopted  them." 

Twelfth,  "To  our  Sister  Societies." 

Thirteenth,  "To  the  Ladies  of  America,  Germany  and 
Swiss." 

This  closed  the  official  program,  but  by  no  means  the 
flood  of  kindliness,  good  cheer  and  enthusiasm  which  had 
been  engendered,  and  being  now  released  from  the 
formalities  of  the  program  called  forth  and  toasted  to  the 
memory  of  numerous  illustrious  men  with  eloquent  re- 
marks of  their  virtues  and  great  services  rendered  to  man- 
kind. The  president,  Christian  Mayer,  not  losing  sight 
of  the  ulterior  object  of  the  banquet,  gave  as  toast,  "May 
the  legislature  of  our  State  be  favorable  to  the  objects 
and  purpose  of  our  society,"  and  spoke  of  the  adoption  of 
the  laws  for  the  better  protection  of  emigrants  and  re- 
demptioners,  submitted  by  the  society  to  the  legislature, 
then  in  session  at  Annapolis. 

Mr.  J.  B.  von  Kapff,  the  first  vice-president,  then  pro- 
posed a  toast,  "To  the  President  of  the  United  States  OT 
America,  James  Monroe."  Dr.  A.  J.  Schwartze,  a  re- 
nowned physician  of  the  city  and  third  vice-president, 


72  HISTORY  OF  THE 

proposed  a  toast,  "To  the  German  Society  of  Maryland;" 
then  toasts  were  drank  to  the  memories  of  Herman  the 
Cherusker,  to  General  Bliicher,  Baron  De  Kalb,  William 
Tell,  Adelung,  Klopstock,  Lessing,  Herder,  Wieland, 
Theodor  Koerner,  Goethe,  Schiller,  Mozart,  Hayden, 
Handel,  the  German  language,  a  number  of  physicians 
and  scientists,  and  after  the  vice-president,  General  John 
Strieker,  had  retired,  a  toast,  "On  the  Victory  of  North 
Point,  may  it  always  be  remembered  that  a  descendant  of 
a  German  was  the  first  to  defeat  the  hostile  British  demon- 
stration against  Baltimore."  After  the  withdrawal  of 
President  Mayer  a  toast  to  him  as  a  philanthropist,  etc.. 
was  drank.  There  were  thirty-eight  toasts  as  reported  in 
the  Federal  Gazette. 

The  banquet  was  a  great  success,  an  enthusiastic  affair 
and  long  remembered  in  Baltimore.  The  object  of  the 
society  became  thereby  more  widely  known  and  popular, 
which  was  of  great  assistance  in  obtaining  from  the  legis- 
lature on  the  third  of  February,  1818,  the  following 
charter  or  act  of  incorporation  by  Chapter  100: 

WHEREAS,  the  arrival  of  Germans  and  Switzers  from 
Europe,  and  the  numerous  settlements  made  by  them  in 
various  parts  of  the  Union,  have  induced  a  number  of  per- 
sons in  this  State  to  associate  themselves  for  the  purpose  of 
removing  or  lessening  their  distresses  in  a  strange  land, 
and  these  persons  having  applied  to  the  General  Assembly 
of  Maryland,  for  an  act  of  incorporation.  Therefore: 

SECTION  i.  BE  IT  ENACTED  BY  THE  GENERAL 
ASSEMBLY  OF  MD.,  That  Christian  Mayer,  John 
Strieker,  Augustus  J.  Schwartz,  Bernard  J.  Von  Kapff, 
Henry  Schroeder,  Justus  Hoppe,  John  Frederick  Fries,  Con- 


GERMAN  SOCIETY  OF  MARYLAND  73 

rad  Schultz,  James  Keerl,  Augustus  Hammer,  Frederick 
Leypold,  Frederick  and  E.  Amelung,  Michael  Kimmel, 
William  Krebs,  Louis  Brantz,  Philip  P.  Eckel,  Jacob  Small, 
Lawrence  Thomsen,  Louis  Mayer,  David  Hoffman  and 
William  Frick,  the  present  Officers  of  the  German  Society 
of  Maryland  and  all  persons  who  are  or  may  hereafter  be- 
come members  of  said  Society  and  their  successors,  shall 
be  and  they  are  hereby  created  and  made  one  community, 
corporation  and  body  politic,  for  ever  hereafter,  by  the 
name,  style  and  title  of  "The  German  Society  of  Mary- 
land." 

SEC.  2.  AND  BE  IT  ENACTED,  that  the  said  corpora- 
tion, and  their  successors  by  the  name,  style  and  title  afore- 
said, shall  be  capable  in  law  of  purchasing,  receiving,  hold- 
ing, selling,  leasing  and  conveying,  all  manner  of  lands, 
tenements,  goods,  chattels,  rents,  annuities,  liberties,  fran- 
chises or  other  property,  real,  personal  or  mixed;  provided 
always,  that  the  clear  annual  value  or  income  from  the 
property  of  the  said  corporation  shall  not  exceed  the  sum 
of  $5,000  exclusive  of  the  monies  arising  from  annual  or 
other  stated  subscriptions  or  payments. 

SEC.  3.  AND  BE  IT  ENACTED,  that  the  said  corpora- 
tion and  their  successors  by  the  name  aforesaid,  shall  be  for 
ever  hereafter  able  and  capable  in  law  to  sue  and  be  sued, 
plead  and  be  impleaded,  answer  and  be  answered  unto,  in 
all  or  any  court  of  justice,  and  it  shall  and  may  be  lawful 
for  them  to  have  and  use  a  common  seal,  and  the  same  to 
break,  alter  and  renew,  at  pleasure,  and  generally  to  do  all 
things  and  acts  which  may  be  necessary  to  carry  into  effect 
the  benevolent  designs  of  said  corporation. 

SEC.  4.  And  be  it  enacted,  that  said  corporation  and  their 
successors,  shall  be  capable  of  making  such  rules  and  by- 


74  HISTORY  OF  THE 

laws  as  may  be  necessary  for  the  regulation  and  govern- 
ment of  said  corporation,  the  same  not  being  contrary  to 
the  laws  and  constitution  of  this  State,  or  of  the  United 
States. 

Two  weeks  later,  on  February  16,  1818,  the  law  pre- 
pared by  the  officers  of  the  society  was  passed.  It  was 
entitled : 

AN  ACT  RELATIVE  TO  GERMAN  AND  Swiss  REDEMPTIONERS. 

Whereas,  it  has  been  found  that  German  and  Swiss  emi- 
grants, who  for  the  discharge  of  the  debt  contracted  for 
their  passage  to  this  country  are  often  obliged  to  subject 
themselves  to  cruel  and  oppressive  imposition  by  the  mas- 
ters of  the  vessels  in  which  they  arrive,  and  likewise  by 
those  to  whom  they  become  servants,  BE  IT  ENACTED : 

SECTION  I.  Providing  for  the  appointment  by  the  gov- 
ernor of  a  trustworthy  person,  skilled  in  the  German  and 
English  languages,  as  register  of  all  contracts  for  appren- 
ticeship of  German  or  Swiss  emigrants  arriving  in  this 
State. 

SEC.  2.  Regulates  the  manner  of  making  these  contracts, 
and  none  shall  be  valid,  unless  the  same  be  drawn  by  the 
register  or  approved  by  him. 

SEC.  4.  Provides  for  the  recording  of  these  contracts,  or 
indentures,  in  a  court  of  record. 

SEC.  5.  Provides  that  the  master  must  give  every  minor 
under  the  age  of  twenty-one  years  at  least  two  months' 
schooling  annually  during  his  servitude. 

SEC.  6.  No  emigrant  shall  in  any  case  be  bound  to  serve 
longer  than  four  years. 

SEC.  7.  That  no  German  or  Swiss  emigrant  arriving 
here  shall  be  detained  longer  than  30  days  on  board  of  the 


GERMAN  SOCIETY  OP  MARYLAND  75 

vessel  after  such  arrival,  and  receive  during  the  detention 
on  board  good  and  sufficient  provisions,  without  increase  in 
the  period  of  their  servitude. 

SEC.  8.  Makes  it  the  duty  of  the  register  to  remove  on 
shore  any  sick  emigrant  or  any  emigrant  having  been  cruelly 
or  ill-treated  by  the  officers  of  the  ship,  at  the  expense  of 
the  vessel.  If  no  purchaser  is  found  for  him  within  sixty 
days  after  arrival,  the  master  or  owners  of  the  vessel  have 
no  further  lien  on  such  emigrant. 

SEC.  9.  That  no  children  shall  be  answerable  for  the 
passage  money  of  their  parents,  dead  or  alive,  nor  parents 
for  their  deceased  children,  nor  a  husband  for  his  deceased 
wife,  nor  a  wife  for  her  deceased  husband,  any  pretense  of 
custom  in  contract,  promise  or  agreement  made  beyond  sea, 
to  the  contrary  notwithstanding. 

SEC.  10.  That  the  masters  of  the  vessels  arriving,  in 
case  of  the  death  of  any  German  or  Swiss  emigrant,  within 
ten  days  after  arrival  deliver  to  the  register  an  accurate  in- 
ventory of  all  the  property  of  such  emigrant  on  board  of 
such  vessel.  The  register  shall  then  sell  such  property,  pay 
the  master  the  passage-money,  provided  that  if  the  passen- 
ger died  before  the  expiration  of  one-half  of  the  voyage  no 
passage-money  shall  be  due,  and  the  heirs  of  the  deceased 
shall  be  entitled  to  the  proceeds,  and  if  after  advertisement 
and  due  search  no  heirs  of  the  deceased  can  be  found  within 
three  years  after  the  arrival  of  the  ship,  then  the  proceeds 
to  go  to  the  German  Society  of  Maryland. 

By  these  laws  the  society  received  an  official  recogni- 
tion. It  possessed  talent,  influence  and  money,  and  now 
it  had  also  the  powerful  arm  of  the  law  to  assist  it  in  it* 
noble  efforts  in  behalf  of  the  oppressed. 


76  HISTORY  OF  THE 

It  was  now  the  care  of  the  society  to  see  that,  these  ex- 
cellent laws  were  duly  carried  out.  This  depended  on 
the  character  and  ability  of  the  person  the  governor  would 
appoint  as  register.  The  register  was  to  be  skilled  in  the 
German  and  English  language;  he  was  to  prepare  or 
approve  of  all  contracts  of  apprenticeship  and  had  the 
most  extensive  authority  and  it  was  his  duty  to  see  that 
all  the  provisions  of  the  law  were  complied  with. 

On  September  10,  1818,  a  meeting  of  the  officers  of 
the  society  was  held  and  Lawrence  Thomsen,  secretary, 
was  unanimously  recommended  to  the  governor  as  a  suit- 
able person  for  the  office  as  register  of  German  and  Swiss 
emigrants,  and  that  he  be  solicited  by  the  president  of  the 
society  to  appoint  Mr.  Thomsen  to  that  office. 

Mr.  Thomsen  was  appointed.  He  proved  to  be  a  faith- 
ful and  very  efficient  officer  and  held  the  office  until  his 
death  on  the  2Oth  of  April,  1819.  His  early  demise  was 
lamented  by  the  society  and  the  community  in  general,  as 
the  loss  of  a  man  who,  by  his  talents,  his  amiable  char- 
acter and  general  usefulness,  had  secured  to  himself  in 
private  and  public  life  the  highest  esteem. 

On  December  14,  1818,  the  president  referred  to  Con- 
rad Schultz  and  Samuel  Keerl,  managers,  the  case  of 
apparent  hardship  between  William  Jacob  Myers,  tobac- 
conist, and  a  servant  girl  of  his  whom  he  had  agreed  to 
set  free,  but  on  condition  to  pay  him  a  sum  of  money 
which  is  represented  not  to  be  in  due  proportion  to  what 
he  paid  for  her  time.  The  matter  was  adjusted  by  these 
gentlemen  and  the  girl  was  set  free.  Different  was  the 
ending  for  the  master  of  the  redemptioner. 


GERMAN  SOCIETY  OF  MARYLAND  77 


JOHANN  BODENWERBER. 

In  January,  1819,  a  German,  named  Johann  Boden- 
werber, appealed  to  the  society  for  protection.  He  was  a 
servant  of  one  Henry  Freeburger,  who  had  treated  him 
with  the  utmost  cruelty  and  inflicted  such  injuries  on  him 
that  he  was  for  a  long  time  laid  up  in  the  hospital  under 
medical  treatment.  The  president  first  tried  to  obtain  a 
release  of  Bodenwerber  from  his  bondage,  and  wrote  the 
following  letter  to  Freeburger: 

"Sir: — If  as  a  small  atonement  for  the  barbarous  treat- 
ment, which  Johannes  Bodenwerber  experienced  from  you, 
you  will  give  up  his  indentures,  the  officers  of  the  German 
Society  will  prevail  on  the  Magistrate  who  issued  a  peace 
warrant  against  you,  to  have  the  prosecution  withdrawn. 
Should  you  unexpectedly  not  consent  to  this  lenient  meas- 
ure, you  may  depend  upon  the  Society's  utmost  endeavors 
to  bring  you  to  deserved  shame  and  punishment.  I  have 
before  me  a  physician's  certificate  which  fully  justifies  my 
using  this  language  to  you. 
(Signed)  CHRISTIAN  MAYER, 

President  of  German  Society  of  Maryland." 

It  is  gratifying  to  us  that  Henry  Freeburger  in  his 
cupidity  and  hardness  of  heart  did  not  accept  this  proposi- 
tion, for  he  was  promptly  indicted  by  the  grand  jury  and 
tried  in  the  Criminal  Court  of  Baltimore  city  and  found 
guilty  and  sentenced. 


78  HISTORY  OF  THE 

Johann  Bodenwerber,  however,  was  released  from  his 
bondage,  became  a  free  man  again  and  married  his  sweet- 
heart. The  papers  of  Bodenwerber  and  of  his  sweet- 
heart, that  is,  their  pass-ports  and  certificates  of  their 
good  moral  conduct  from  different  public  authorities  of 
their  native  country,  which  had  been  in  the  custody  of 
the  German  Society,  were  delivered  to  them,  together  with 
a  sum  of  money  and  the  good  wishes  of  the  society.  The 
president  speaks  of  Bodenwerber  as  a  very  worthy  man 
who  deserved  a  better  fate. 

On  Saturday,  the  26th  day  of  December,  1818,  the 
society  celebrated  the  first  anniversary  of  its  re-organi- 
zation by  a  grand  dinner  at  Williamson's  Hotel,  com- 
mencing at  four  o'clock  p.  m.  The  customary  thirteen 
official  toasts  were  drank,  the  United  States  of  America 
heading  the  list.  Many  voluntary  toasts  followed  and  a 
merry  time.  Over  $500  had  been  given  to  needy  emi- 
grants in  the  past  year. 

In  the  early  days  of  the  month  of  January,  1819, 
arrived  in  our  port  the  Swedish  ship  "Prima,"  Cap- 
tain Moxwold,  after  a  long,  perilous,  tempestuous 
voyage  from  Bergen,  Norway,  with  upward  250  German 
and  Swiss  emigrants,  mostly  redemptioners,  in  the  great- 
est distress.  These  emigrants  must  have  been  shipwrecked 
or  from  other  cause,  in  distress  have  found  refuge 
in  that  far  northern  city  of  Bergen,  for  the  German  So- 
ciety passed  at  a  meeting  resolutions  of  profuse  thanks  to 
the  magistrate  of  the  city  of  Bergen  and  other  public 
functionaries  of  his  majesty,  the  King  of  Sweden,  and  to 
A.  Gruning,  Esq.,  consul  for  the  Hanseatic  cities  at  Chris- 
tiania  for  the  extraordinary  generosity  to  these  emigrants 


GERMAN  SOCIETY  OF  MARYLAND  79 

during  their  stay  in  Norway,  assuring  them  that  the  offi- 
cers and  all  the  members  of  the  society  who  have  heard 
the  history  of  these  unfortunate  strangers  are  animated 
by  the  liveliest  sentiments  of  gratitude  for  the  unex- 
ampled humanity  and  liberality  extended  towards  these 
emigrants.  These  resolutions  were  duly  transmitted  by 
the  president  and  secretary  of  the  society.  On  the  arrival 
of  the  ship  here  the  captain  did  not  have  the  money  to  pay 
the  foreign  tonnage  tax  required  by  our  laws,  and  the 
poor  passengers  were  not  allowed  to  land  and  in  their 
distress  had  to  remain  on  board  the  ship.  An  appeal  for 
aid  was  made  to  the  German  Society,  which  thereupon 
directed  its  officers  to  make  a  sufficient  deposit  with  the 
collector  of  the  port  to  permit  the  landing  of  the  pas- 
sengers and  their  baggage. 

President  Mayer  sent  the  following  letter : 

The  Honorable  William  A.  Crawford, 

Secretary  of  the  Treasury  of  the  United  States, 

Washington,  D.  C. 

Sir:  The  Swedish  ship  "Prima"  Capt.  Moxwold  arrived 
here  some  days  ago  from  Norway  with  upward  250  Ger- 
man emigrants  in  great  distress.  The  collector  of  this  dis- 
trict could  not  admit  this  ship  to  an  entry,  unless  the  for- 
eign tonnage  be  paid  or  secured,  as  he  is  not  yet  officially 
informed  of  the  treaty  with  Sweden  recently  ratified.  To 
alleviate  the  distress  of  the  redemptioners  on  board  the 
"Prima,"  I  have  this  day  made  the  requisite  deposit,  which 
the  master  of  the  ship  had  not  the  means  to  do,  and  the 
ship  is  entered  and  leave  given  to  land  the  passengers  and 
their  baggage.  I  have  now  to  request,  that  you,  sir,  will  be 
pleased  to  give  direction  to  the  collector  respecting  the  ton- 


8o  HISTORY  OF  THE 

nage  this  Swedish  ship  is  chargeable  with,  that  he  may 
settle  with  me  for  the  deposit  made. 

I  have  the  honor  to  be  most  respectfully,  sir, 

Your  most  obedient  servant, 

CHR.  MAYER, 

President  of  the  Incorporated  German  Society 
of  Maryland. 

The  society  granted  a  loan  to  Joseph  Fiedler,  one  ot 
the  redemptioners  of  the  "Prima,"  of  fifty  dollars  for  one 
year,  and  gifts  of  smaller  sums  to  others,  but  still  greater 
trouble  came  with  this  ship  to  the  society,  which  brought 
discord  among  its  officers  with  the  sequence  of  the  resig- 
nation of  its  able  counsellors-at-law  and  eventually  the 
resignation  of  its  zealous  worthy  president.  It  was  the 
Case  of  the  "Breuning  Boys." 

Among  the  redemptioners  of  the  ship  "Prima"  was  the 
Breuning  family,  consisting  of  husband  and  wife  with 
their  two  infant  sons,  Christian  and  Adam.  Mr.  Law- 
rence Thomsen,  the  State  Register  of  Redemptioners, 
went  on  board  to  draw  and  prepare  all  contracts  for  ap- 
prenticeship as  prescribed  by  law  for  emigrants  who  had 
come  under  the  redemptioner  system  and  found  masters 
willing  to  take  them  in  service.  The  ship  was  crowded 
and  the  register  was  engaged  in  making  out  and  signing 
apprenticeship  contracts  in  one  part  of  the  ship,  when  a 
Mr.  W.  Denny,  a  farmer  from  Queen  Anne  county,  see- 
ing the  Blreuning  boys,  was  so  pleased  with  their  appear- 
ance that  he  offered  the  captain  of  the  ship  a  liberal  sum 
of  money  to  buy  them  as  redemptioners.  The  captain 
accepted  the  money,  and  the  farmer,  without  having  them 
bound  and  indentured  by  Mr.  Thomsen  and  without  the 


GERMAN  SOCIETY  OF  MARYLAND  81 

parents  understanding-  what  was  going  on  with  their 
children,  placed  the  boys  in  his  boat,  which  was  laying 
alongside  of  the  ship,  and  shoved  off.  The  mother  seeing 
her  only  children  thus  carried  away,  cried  out  and 
lamented,  crazed  with  grief  and  anguish.  Mr.  Thomsen 
called  to  Mr.  Denny  and  ordered  him  to  bring  back  the 
boys.  He  would  return  him  the  money  he  paid,  but 
neither  the  order  of  this  officer  nor  the  piteous  cries  and 
lamentations  of  the  mother  and  father  of  the  boys  made 
an  impression  on  the  farmer.  He  had  a  good  bargain  in 
the  service  of  these  boys  until  they  were  respectively 
twenty-two  years  of  age,  with  no  record  when  that  time 
would  come,  and  he  sailed  with  them  away  across  the 
Chesapeake  Bay  to  Queen  Anne  county.  It  was  a  clear 
case  of  kidnapping.  To  make  matters  still  worse  the 
bereaved  and  grief-stricken  parents  were  afterwards  sold 
to  a  farmer  in  Pennsylvania,  where  they  bitterly  bewailed 
the  loss  of  their  children.  All  this  was  reported  by  Mr. 
Thomsen  to  the  president  of  the  society  and  aroused  his 
sympathy  and  abhorrence.  He  was  determined  to  act  at 
once  with  the  greatest  energy  in  behalf  of  these  unfortu- 
nate children  and  their  parents.  The  only  way  to  obtain 
the  freedom  of  these  lads  from  the  custody  of  Mr.  Denny 
was  by  a  proceeding  of  obtaining  a  writ  of  "habeas  cor- 
pus," to  be  issued  by  the  circuit  court  of  Queen  Anne's 
county,  commanding  Mr.  Denny  to  bring  the  lads  into 
court  for  adjudication.  The  matter,  was  therefore  to  be 
referred  to  the  counsellors  of  the  society  for  action.  The 
society  had  some  time  prior  received  a  complaint  from  a 
German  gardener  named  Stoffel,  who  was  brought  to  this 
country  in  the  ship  "Superb,"  and  under  a  contract  en- 


82  HISTORY  OF  THE 

tered  into  in  Holland,  held  in  servitude  by  John  Carrere, 
Esq.,  of  this  city,  the  owner  of  the  ship  "Superb."  Stoffel 
had  just  grievances  against  Mr.  Carrere.  and  these  were 
referred  to  the  counsellors  to  seek  redress  for  him  by  law. 
The  counsellors  had  sent  to  the  society  an  opinion  un- 
favorable to  the  legal  rights  of  Stoffel  in  his  just  com- 
plaints. The  president's  son,  Charles  F.  Mayer,  Esq.,  a 
member  of  the  bar,  who  became  a  leading  lawyer  of  the 
State,  to  whom  this  opinion  was  submitted,  gave  a  dia- 
metrical different  opinion  of  the  law,  and  was  in  favor  of 
taking  legal  steps  in  behalf  of  Stoffel.  The  president 
agreed  with  his  son's  views,  and  was  not  in  harmony  with 
the  lawyers  of  the  society.  He,  therefore,  sent  them  the 
following  letter : 

February    ist,    1819. 
David  Hoffman  and  William  Frick,  Esq. 

Gentlemen : — I  have  yesterday  received  the  opinion  you 
favored  me  with,  and  shall  consequently  in  my  official  ca- 
pacity desist  from  countenancing  the  gardener  Stoffel's 
complaint  against  W.  Carren.  But  permit  me,  gentlemen, 
to  observe,  that  although  it  is  surely  not  illegal  in  Holland 
for  one  man  to  become  gardener  for  another  for  three  years 
without  wages,  yet  that  species  of  domestic  servitude,  which 
is  nothing  but  a  temporary  slavery,  which  makes  one  man 
the  property  of  another,  and  divests  him  of  all  civic  rights, 
is  utterly  unknown  to  the  laws  and  customs  of  the  Nether- 
lands,— there  is  even  no  feudal  serf  or  adscriptus  glebae  in 
that  country.  If,  therefore,  Stoffel's  contract  is  to  be  ex- 
ecuted here  as  it  would  be  interpreted  in  Holland,  he  is  not 
Mr.  Carren's  indented  servant  (Leibeigener),  but  his  hired 
domestic  upon  wages  advanced. 


83 

Give  me  leave  to  state  a  simile:  Suppose  Stoffel  had 
agreed  with  Captain  Weems  to  be  transported  to  the  north- 
west coast  of  America,  to  be  there  maintained  in  the  usual 
manner,  could  he  have  no  right  to  complain  if  he  were  fed 
on  rotten  whale  and  putrid  fish  oil?  With  all  due  deference, 
I  crave  your  permission  to  submit  the  opinion  of  my  son  on 
this  case. 

I  am  at  the  same  time  under  the  necessity  of  calling  your 
attention  to  another  matter.  Last  week  a  misunderstand- 
ing took  place  between  a  passenger  on  board  the  ship 
"Prima,"  now  in  this  port,  and  an  inhabitant  of  Queen 
Anne's  county,  whose  name  Mr.  Thomsen  will  inform  you 
of,  about  the  terms  of  servitude  or  apprenticeship  of  the 
former's  two  infant  sons.  Mr.  Thomsen  not  being  able  to 
accommodate  the  difference,  requested  the  man  from 
Queen  Anne's  to  return  the  two  lads  on  board  to  the  cap- 
tain, but  instead  of  doing  so,  the  man  carried  off  the  boys 
in  his  boat,  without  having  them  bound.  I  beg,  gentlemen, 
you  will  by  addressing  the  chief  judge  of  the  district  in 
which  Queen  Anne  is  situated  or  by  any  other  means  you 
may  deem  advisable,  endeavor  to  redress  this  wrong  and 
punish  the  offender. 

I  have  the  honor  to  be,  etc., 

CHRISTIAN  MAYER, 
Pres.  of  G.  S.  of  Md. 
•j 

The  president,  however,  did  not  wait  for  the  attorneys 

to  act,  not  even  for  a  reply  to  his  letter.  He  seems  to 
have  lost  confidence  in  them,  and  on  the  5th  of  February, 
1819,  sent  them  the  following  rather  discourteous  letter: 

"Wm.  Frick  and  David  Hoffman,  Esqs. 

Sirs : — Before  the  receipt  of  your  respected  letter  of  yes- 
terday it  had  been  suggested  to  me  to  enclose  to  a  store- 


84  HISTORY  OF  THE 

keeper  at  Centreville,  with  whom  Mr.  Thomsen  has  an  open 
account,  a  petition  to  the  judge  of  that  district  for  a  habeas 
corpus,  accompanied  by  a  deposition  of  Mr.  Thomsen,  stat- 
ing the  facts  of  the  case  and  a  request  to  his  correspondent 
to  employ  counsel  at  the  expense  of  the  German  Society. 
I  am  glad,  gentlemen,  that  by  this  mode  of  proceeding  I  am 
enabled  to  spare  you  from  perhaps  unnecessary  trouble." 

By  the  dates  of  these  letters  it  appears  that  the  attor- 
neys had  answered  his  letter  within  three  days,  but  he  had 
without  waiting  for  a  reply  engaged  another  attorney, 
and  taken  this  case  out  of  their  hands.  The  attorneys 
could  not  act  otherwise  than  tender  their  resignation  to 
the  society.  The  resignation  of  Mr.  Frick  was  accepted 
at  the  meeting  of  March  the  ist,  and  Charles  F.  Mayer, 
the  son  of  the  president,  elected  in  his  place. 

David  Hoffman,  Esq.,  at  the  next  meeting  of  the  offi- 
cers also  resigned  as  counsellor,  and  Peter  Hoffman 
Cruse,  Esq.,  was  elected  in  his  stead.  A  fee  of  one  hun- 
dred dollars  for  each  of  the  late  counsellors  for  their 
services  was  granted,  but  not  accepted  by  the  counsellors. 
A  petition  for  a  writ  of  habeas  corpus  for  the  Breuning 
boys  was  filed  in  the  court  for  Queen  Anne  county. 
President  Mayer  wrote  a  personal  letter  to  the  Honorable 
R.  Earle,  chief  judge  of  the  county,,  on  behalf  of  the 
Breuning  boys.  The  judge  answered,  stating  that  he 
knew  Mr.  Denny  personally  as  a  man  of  good  character 
and  standing,  who  did  not  intend  to  violate  the  law.  The 
president  called  a  special  meeting  of  the  board,  and  the 
judge  was  informed  that  the  society  insisted  upon  the 
boys  being  released  from  the  unlawful  custody  of  Mr. 
Denny.  On  the  hearing  of  the  return  of  the  writ,  the 


GERMAN  SOCIETY  OF  MARYLAND  85 

boys  were  set  free.  Their  parents,  being  in  bondage  as 
redemptioners,  could  not  take  proper  care  of  them  and 
the  society  by  the  Register,  Mr.  L.  Thomsen  and  under 
the  authority  of  the  Orphans'  Court  had  them  regularly 
bound  as  apprentices  to  learn  farming.  The  case  of  the 
gardener,  Stoffel,  was  also  taken  up  again  by  the  ne\v 
counsellors,  but  the  record  does  not  disclose  with  what 
success.  On  March  2,  1819,  the  president  sent  the  fol- 
lowing letter  to  Captain  Jacob  Maxwold : 

Commander  of  the  Norwegian  Ship  "Prima." 

Sir : — By  a  meeting  of  the  officers  of  the  German  Society 
of  Maryland,  held  yesterday,  I  am  desired  to  present  to  you 
the  thanks  of  the  board  on  behalf  of  the  society  for  the 
humanity  and  courtesy  with  which  you  have,  during  a  pro- 
tracted voyage,  conducted  yourself  toward  the  unfortunate 
emigrants,  who,  by  the  uncommon  generosity  of  the  govern- 
ment of  your  country,  have  been  after  so  many  perils  and 
privations  which  these  poor  people  had  encountered  since 
they  had  left  their  native  country,  the  kindness  with  which 
you  have  uniformly  treated  them  was  particularly  consol- 
ing, etc.,  etc.,  etc. 

CHR.  MAYER, 
President  of  German  Society  of  Maryland. 

On  the  1 5th  of  March,  1819,  the  president  wrote  the 
following  letter,  which  certainly  was  not  within  the  scope 
of  his  authority  as  the  president  of  a  society  which  only 
had  for  its  object  the  protection  of  the  emigrant  and  not 
of  the  ship  owners.  It  is  addressed  to  the  German  immi- 
grants yet  remaining  on  board  of  the  Dutch  ship  "Vromv 
Elizabeth" : 


86  HISTORY  OF  THE 

"Captain  Bredero  has  applied  to  the  German  Society  of 
Maryland,  and  represented  that  you  refuse  to  hire  your- 
selves on  reasonable  condition  for  the  payment  of  your 
passage  money.  As  Captain  Bredero  conscientiously  per- 
formed his  part  of  the  contract,  and,  up  to  the  present  time 
as  we  are  informed  by  everybody,  treated  you  very  kindly, 
your  refusal  is  unjust,  unlawful  and  ungrateful.  The  Ger- 
man Society  makes  it  its  duty  to  assist  your  countrymen 
when  they  are  in  need,  and  to  protect  them  as  far  as  it  is 
able;  but  it  will  also  not  suffer  any  injustice  to  be  done  by 
emigrants,  and  by  advice  and  act  induce  them  to  fulfil  their 
obligations.  I  declare,  therefore,  to  you,  that  Captain  Bre- 
dero has  a  lawful  right  to  have  you  committed  to  prison,  to 
remain  there  on  meagre  fare,  until  your  debt  is  paid,  if 
you  do  not  consent  to  hire  for  a  reasonable  time — that  is 
not  more  than  four  years,  for  the  payment  thereof.  The 
captain  can  exercise  this  right,  after  the  expiration  of  thirty 
days  of  your  arrival,  and  the  German  Society  will  assist 
him  in  this.  Please  conform  to  this,  and  it  will  please  us. 
You  are  hereby  warned  of  the  consequences. 

(Signed)  CHR.  MAYER, 

President,  etc." 

On  the  nth  of  May,  1819,  the  president  gave  to  Cap- 
tain Bredero  a  certificate  that  he  treated  his  passengers 
with  kindness  and  humanity. 

On  the  1 7th  of  April,  1819,  Mr.  Lawrence  Thomsen, 
the  able  secretary  of  the  society  and  State  Register  of 
German  and  Swiss  Immigrants,  departed  this  life.  The 
society  in  meeting  assembled  unanimously  recommended 
Lewis  Mayer  to  the  governor  and  council  of  Maryland 
as  a  suitable  person  to  be  appointed  for  the  vacant  office 


8; 

of  Register  for  German  and  Swiss  Immigrants  arriving 
at  the  port  of  Baltimore.  Lewis  Mayer  thereupon  was 
appointed  Register  by  the  governor  and  council.  Lewis 
Mayer  remained  State  Register  and  secretary  of  the  board 
of  managers  of  the  society  until  June,  1823,  when  in  con- 
sequence of  his  removal  from  the  State  of  Maryland,  he 
resigned  both  offices,  and,  on  recommendation  of  the 
society,  Henry  G.  Jacobson  was  appointed  his  successor. 
In  the  summer  of  1819  the  yellow  fever  was  in  the  city, 
especially  at  Fell's  Point.  The  inhabitants  fled  into  the 
country,  where  they  lived  in  tents.  There  was  much  suf- 
fering among  the  poor  and  soup-houses  were  established. 
In  Germany  they  had  good  crops,  prosperity  had  returned 
and  for  many  years  there  was  a  diminished  emigration 
from  that  country  to  America.  The  society  gave  more 
attention  to  the  relief  of  the  poor  of  the  city,  natives  of 
Germany  and  Swiss  and  descendants  of  Germans  and 
Swiss. 

By  a  resolution  passed  January  5,  1819,  the  board  re- 
solved itself  into  committees  to  procure  additional  mem- 
bers and  solicit  subscriptions  in  the  following  order  of 
arrangement : 

First  Week:     Conrad  Schultz,  Samuel  Keerl. 
Second  Week:     Justus  Hoppe,  John  F.  Friese. 
Third  Week :     William  Krebs,  Lawrence  Thomsen. 
Fourth  Week:     Jacob  Small,  Lewis  Brantz. 
Fifth  Week:     August  Hammer,  Frederick  Waesche. 
Sixth  WTeek:     Michael  Kimmel,  F.  L.  E.  Amelung. 
Seventh  Week :     Frederick  Leypold,  Philip  Eckel. 
Eighth  Week:     Wm.  Frick,  Lewis  Mayer. 
Ninth  Week:     Henry  Schroeder,  D.  Hoffman. 


88  .          HISTORY  OF  THE 

At  the  same  meeting  a  by-law  was  adopted  that,  within 
one  week  after  the  next  anniversary  meeting  of  the  so- 
ciety and  every  year  thereafter  on  the  same  day,  the  presi- 
dent, vice-president  and  board  of  managers  shall  elect  by 
ballot  counsellors  and  physicians  to  the  society  for  the 
year  ensuing.  A  vote  of  thanks  was  passed  for  Conrad 
Schulz,  the  Prussian  Consul,  for  his  benevolent  exertions 
to  alleviate  the  sufferings  of  the  unfortunate  emigrants 
lately  arrived  here  in  the  ship  "Prima,"  from  Norway. 
A  redemptioner  named  Joseph  Schwartzkopf,  who  came 
with  the  ship  "Juflrow  Johanna"  in  January,  1817,  and 
sold  to  a  master  in  Annapolis  without  having  any  writing 
to  show  his  terms  of  servitude,  there  being  at  the  time  no 
legistration  of  redemptioners,  appealed  to  the  society  for 
redress.  The  president  sent  sworn  depositions  to  Annap- 
olis, showing  that  Joseph  Schwartzkopf  arrived  here  and 
was  sold  in  servitude  in  the  early  month  of  1817. 

We  now  come  to  a  blank  leaf  in  the  record  book  of  the 
proceedings  of  the  officers  of  the  society.  There  is  no 
entry  during  the  period  from  September  25,  1819,  to 
December  26,  1821,  when,  at  the  anniversary  meeting  of 
the  society,  held  at  Williamson's  Hotel,  Justus  Hoppe,  a 
prominent  merchant,  was  chosen  president  and  B.  J.  von 
Kapff,  Dr.  A.  J.  Schwarz,  Henry  Schroeder  and  General 
John  Strieker,  vice-presidents.  William  Frick  appears 
as  a  member  of  the  board  of  managers.  The  record  book 
of  the  proceedings  of  the  society  was  burnt  in  the  great 
fire  of  1904.  The  Federal  Gazette  of  December  21  to  23, 
1820,  contains  a  notice  that  the  anniversary  meeting  of 
the  society  and  election  of  officers  would  be  held  at  Mrs. 
Wintklos'  Hotel,  on  Bank  street,  on  Tuesday,  December 


GERMAN  SOCIETY  OF  MARYLAND  89 

26,  1820,  at  12  M.  Brantz  Mayer  in  his  "Memoir  and 
Genealogy  of  the  family  of  Mayer  from  the  city  of  Ulm 
in  Maryland,"  page  41,  says  his  father,  Christian  Mayer, 
for  reasons  of  other  duties,  in  1821  declined  a  re-election. 
Charles  F.  Mayer,  Esq.,  the  counsellor,  resigned  in  1822, 
and  William  Frick  and  David  Hoffman,  Esqs.,  were  again 
elected  as  counsellors  of  the  society,  offices  they  had  re- 
signed in  1819  on  account  of  the  Breuning  boys'  case. 
The  former  held  this  position  until  1832  and  Mr.  Hoff- 
man until  1836,  when  he  removed  from  the  city  to  Phila- 
delphia. Both  were  prominent  in  public  affairs.  Wil- 
liam Frick,  Esq.,  as  author  of  legal  books,  orator  and 
judge,  was  a  son  of  Peter  Frick,  who,  as  early  as  1773, 
was  a  leading  member  of  the  German  Lutheran  Zion 
Church  and  always  took  an  active  part  in  public  affairs  for 
the  welfare  of  Baltimore  Town,  and  in  1796,  when  Balti- 
more was  raised  to  the  dignity  of  a  city,  was  a  member  of 
the  first  city  council  and  served  for  several  years  as  the 
president  of  the  First  Branch.  His  son,  William  Frick, 
Esq.,  was  also  a  life-long  worshiper  and  regular  attendant 
of  said  Zion  Church.  In  1836  William  Frick  was  ap- 
pointed by  President  Jackson  collector  of  this  port  and 
retained  the  position  under  President  Van  Buren.  He 
subsequently  represented  the  city  as  State  senator.  In 
June,  1848,  he  was  appointed  by  Governor  Thomas  chief 
judge  of  the  then  Baltimore  county.  As  chief  judge  of 
that  court  he  became  a  member  of  the  court  of  appeals  of 
the  State  of  Maryland  until  the  adoption  of  the  new  con- 
stitution in  1851,  when  he  was  elected  by  the  people  as 
the  first  judge  of  the  Superior  Court  of  Baltimore  City. 
He  held  that  position  until  his  death  on  the  25th  of  July, 


9O  HISTORY  OF  THE 

1855.  He  remained  a  life-long  member  of  the  German 
Society. 

David  Hoffman,  Esq.,  LL.  D.,  was  born  in  Baltimore 
Town  in  1784  of  German  parents.  He  was  a  leading- 
member  of  the  early  bar  in  Baltimore;  became  professor 
of  law  in  the  University  of  Maryland  from  1817  to  1836, 
is  the  author  of  "A  Course  of  Legal  Studies,"  of  "Legal 
Outlines,"  standard  works  for  many  years,  and  published 
other  books  of  merit. 

Peter  Hoffman  Cruse,  Esq.,  was  a  man  of  distinguished 
talents  and  an  accomplished  scholar.  He  was  for  a  num- 
ber of  years  the  editor  of  the  "Baltimore  American,"  and 
later  of  "The  Patriot." 

Justus  Hoppe  was  re-elected  and  remained  president  of 
the  society  until  the  year  1833.  With  him  were  Jacob 
Small,  a  member  of  the  board  of  managers  from  1819  to 
1829,  and  in  1826  and  1827  first  vice-president.  In  1826 
Jacob  Small  (Schmal)  was  elected  mayor  of  the  city  of 
Baltimore.  He  resigned  the  office  in  1829.  General 
John  Strieker,  the  fourth  vice-president,  died  on  the  23rd 
day  of  June,  1825,  in  his  sixty-seventh  year  of  age.  His 
remains  were  interred  with  great  military  honors.  At 
the  time  of  his  death  he  was  the  president  of  the  Bank  of 
Baltimore.  He  was  one  of  the  most  amiable  and  best  of 
men. 

The  record  book  of  the  society  being  destroyed,  we 
have  no  detail  of  its  activity  in  those  years,  but  the  fol- 
lowing incident  taken  from  a  book  in  the  library  of  the 
late  Rev.  Edward  Huber  may  be  considered  as  one  of 
frequent  acts  of  like  nature.  S.  V.  R.,  a  Swiss  nobleman, 


GERMAN  SOCIETY  OP  MARYLAND  91 

published  in  Aaran,  1827,  a  book  under  the  title  of  "My 
Visit  to  America  in  the  Summer  of  1824." 

He  shipped  from  Havre  on  the  German  emigrant  ves- 
sel "Hyperion"  for  Baltimore.  On  page  53  he  writes : 
The  vessel  arrived  at  Baltimore  on  the  I4th  of  July,  1824, 
and  landed  the  emigrants,  who  immediately  made  ar- 
rangements to  depart  for  the  western  territories  of  the 
United  States,  mostly  in  small  caravans  of  eight  to  ten 
persons.  Some  were  already  entirely  divested  of  money. 
They  applied  to  a  highly  esteemed  society  in  Baltimore 
and  the  two  poorest  families,  consisting  of  eleven  persons, 
received  a  horse  and  forty  piaster.  They,  like  the 
majority  of  such  emigrants,  wandered  to  the  shores  of 
the  Ohio  river. 

The  society  held  its  yearly  meetings  and  election  of 
officers  (fully  reported  in  the  appendix)  regularly  in  the 
last  week  of  each  year  at  Beltzhoover's  Hotel,  southeast 
corner  of  Baltimore  and  Hanover  streets.  It  was  also 
called  "Indian  Queen"  Hotel,  and  celebrated  in  its  days 
Beltzhoover  in  1832  removed  to  the  "Fountain  Hotel." 

After  the  election  of  officers  and  transaction  of  busi- 
ness, a  banquet  followed  with  the  usual  toasts  and 
speeches.  It  is  to  be  noticed  that  these  meetings  and 
banquets  were  held  in  daytime  and  not  in  the  evening,  or 
night,  as  is  the  custom  of  the  present  time.  In  1832  the 
society  received  from  the  lady  patronesses  of  a  concert 
the  sum  of  one  hundred  dollars,  with  the  request  that  the 
same  be  immediately  distributed  among  Germans  in  dis- 
tress in  the  city. 

No  entry  is  found  in  the  record  book  of  the  officers  of 
the  society  during  and  after  the  presidency  of  Justus 


92  HISTORY  OF  THE 

Hoppe  nor  thereafter  relating1  to  a  particular  case  of 
cruelty  or  wrong  to  a  redemptioner  requiring-  the  assist- 
ance or  intervention  of  the  society.  The  strict  enforce- 
ment of  the  registration  and  apprenticeship  laws  enacted 
by  the  State  at  the  instance  of  the  society  and  applied 
under  the  supervision  of  the  officers  of  the  society  by  the 
State  Register,  who  was  at  the  same  time  the  secretary 
of  the  officers,  as  well  as  public  opinion  which  had  set 
against  the  redemptioner  system,  had  a  wholesome  influ- 
ence. The  newspapers  of  the  ensuing  years  do  not  con- 
tain any  more  advertisements  for  "the  sale,  nor  offering 
rewards  for  the  capture  of  runaway  redemptioners." 
There  were  gradually  less  redemptioners  coming.  In 
1830  Henry  G.  Jacobson,  the  State  Register,  resigned, 
and  Charles  Starke  was  recommended  by  the  officers  of 
the  society  and  appointed  by  the  governor  as  the  suc- 
cessor in  office.  Starke  resigned  in  1834  and  Justus 
Hoppe  recommended  to  the  governor  as  the  successor. 

The  society  placed  certain  sums  of  money  in  the  hands 
of  the  president  to  be  disposed  at  his  discretion  to  the  aid 
of  destitute  German  and  Swiss  immigrants  and  account- 
ed for  to  the  treasurer.  Aside  of  the  counsellors- 
at-law,  it  always  had  two  competent  salaried  physicians 
to  attend  poor  sick  immigrants. 

On  the  26th  of  December,  1832,  Charles  W.  Karthaus 
was  elected  president.  Mr.  Karthaus  as  vice-president 
had  been  very  active  to  increase  the  membership  and  fund 
of  the  society.  At  the  meeting  held  on  the  ninth  day  of 
February,  1833,  he  appointed  from  among  the  officers 
committees  to  solicit  subscriptions  from  the  members  re- 


GERMAN  SOCIETY  OF  MARYLAND 


93 


siding  in  the  respective  districts,  assigned  to  them  as 
follows  : 


John  P.  Stroble, 

G.  A.  von  Spreckelson, 

J.  J.  Cohen. 

C.  W.  Karthaus, 
Chas.  Diffenderfer, 
J.  J.  Hoogewerff. 

Edward  Kurtz, 
Dr.  F.  E.  Hintze, 
F.  W.  Brune. 

Chas.  G.  Boehm, 
F.  L.  Bratms, 
Samuel  Keerl. 

Frederick  Focke, 
Chas.  Starcke, 
A.  Schumacher. 

William  Hilberg, 
Charles  Fischer. 
C.  G.  Peters, 


-  ist  and  2nd  ward. 
3rd  and  4th  ward. 
5th  and  6th  ward. 
7th  and  8th  ward. 
9th  and  loth  ward, 
nth  and  I2th  ward. 


The  regular  dues  of  the  members  of  the  society  were 
at  that  time  three  dollars  a  year.  The  records  of  pro- 
ceedings of  the  society  before  1860  being  destroyed  as 
aforesaid,  we  can  by  the  membership  of  later  years  esti- 
mate the  average  number  of  members  of  the  preceding 
years,  as  not  'more  than  one  hundred  and  fifty  to  two 
hundred.  Some  members  contributed  liberally  more  than 
their  regular  dues  (see  list  in  annual  reports)  and  others 
by  the  payment  of  a  large  sum  became  life  members. 
After  the  payment  of  the  salaries  of  the  physicians,  the 
medicines,  the  agent  who  visited  the  arriving  immigrant 


94  HISTORY  OF  THE 

-. 

vessel  and  other  necessary  expenses,  there  was  but  a  small 
sum  left  to  meet  the  demand  of  those  deserving  aid  in 
pecuniary  distress.  We  read  from  the  record  book  of 
the  officers  (which  is  preserved)  of  the  constant  efforts 
of  the  officers  of  the  society,  who  were  men  of  high  stand- 
ing in  the  community,  assuming  the  arduous  duty  of  per- 
sonally soliciting  subscriptions  for  their  noble  charity. 
We  may  assume  that  by  their  unselfish  devotion  they 
gained  the  sympathy  and  admiration  of  their  fellow  citi- 
zens in  their  work,  and  the  legislature  of  the  State  passed 
a  law  which  relieved  the  society,  by  assisting  and  giving 
it  more  ample  pecuniary  means.  In  the  session  of  1832 
Charles  F.  Mayer,  Esq.,  the  counsellor  of  the  society,  was 
a  member  of  the  legislature.  He  introduced  a  law 
whereof  his  brother,  Brantz  Mayer,  the  eminent  author 
and  lawyer  in  his  Memoir  and  Genealogy  of  the  Mayer 
family  (p.  41)  writes: 

"From  its  (the  German  Society)  beginning  to  this  day, 
the  Society  has  been  one  of  the  most  effective  institutions 
in  America,  designed  to  aid  foreigners ;  I  drew  the  original 
law  under  which  it  collected  'passenger  money'  and  enabled 
it  to  help  so  many  immigrants." 

This  law,  passed  the  22nd  of  December,  1832,  by  the 
Legislature,  is  now  incorporated  in  our  new  "City  Char- 
ter," adopted  April  25,  1898  (p.  208,  sections  519  to 
531),  under  the  heading  of  "Immigrants." 

It  provides :  That  every  master  or  commander  of  any 
vessel  arriving  from  a  foreign  country  or  from  any  other 
of  the  United  States  who  shall  enter  said  vessel  at  the  cus- 


ALBERT   SCHUMACHER 


GERMAN  SOCIETY  OF  MARYLAND  95 

torn-house  in  the  city  of  Baltimore,  shall,  within  twenty- 
four  hours  after  such  entry,  make  a  report  in  writing  on 
oath  to  the  mayor  of  said  city  of  the  name,  age  and  occu- 
pation of  every  alien  passenger  of  his  vessel,  or  forfeit  the 
sum  of  twenty  dollars  for  every  such  passenger  neglected 
or  omitted  to  be  reported. 

That  the  owner  or  consignee  of  any  such  vessel  shall 
give  a  bond  to  the  State  of  Maryland  in  the  penalty  of  three 
hundred  dollars  for  each  passenger  so  reported,  conditioned 
to  indemnity  and  save  harmless  each  and  every  city,  town 
and  county  in  this  State,  from  any  cost  which  they  respec- 
tively shall  incur,  for  the  relief  and  support  of  the  person 
named  in  the  bond,  within  five  years  from  the  date  of  the 
bond,  and  also  to  refund,  etc.,  any  charge  or  expense  such 
city,  etc.,  may  necessarily  incur  for  the  support  or  medical 
care  of  such  persons,  if  received  into  any  almshouse  or  hos- 
pital or  any  other  institution  under  their  care.  Prescribing 
a  fine  of  twenty  dollars  for  each  passenger  not  bonded  as 
aforesaid,  unless  the  owner  or  consignee  of  any  such  vessel 
within  three  days  after  the  landing  of  such  passenger,  shall 
pay  to  the  City  Register  the  sum  of  one  dollar  and  fifty  cents 
for  each  and  every  passenger  aforesaid,  the  receipt  whereof 
shall  be  deemed  a  full  and  sufficient  discharge  from  the  re- 
quirement of  giving  such  bond.  The  money  so  collected 
to  go  three-fifths  thereof  to  the  trustees  for  the  poor  of 
Baltimore  City  for  the  purpose  of  supporting  foreign  paup- 
ers of  the  said  city,  and  the  other  two-fifths  shall  be  paid 
to  the  Hibernian  Society  of  Baltimore  and  the  German  So- 
ciety of  Maryland. 

The  law  was  originally  passed  as  afore-stated,  which 
would  be  construed  that  each,  the  Hibernian  and  German 
Societies,  be  equally  entitled  to  the  two-fifths  of  the  com- 


g6  HISTORY  OF  THE 

mutation  money,  which  would  not  be  fair  as  great  many 
more  German  than  Irish  immigrants  arrived  and  lived 
in  Baltimore  and  the  German  Society  thereby  carried  a 
heavier  burden  than  the  Hibernian. 

The  president  of  the  German  Society  thereupon  mailed 
the  following  letter : 

Baltimore,  March  6th,  1833. 
CHARLES  F.  MAYER,  ESQ., 

Annapolis. 

Dear  Sir : — Your  esteemed  favor  of  the  4th  inst.  is  at  hand, 
and  this  morning  I  received  a  copy  of  the  Bill  respecting 
emigrants ;  but  I  should  like,  if  you  think  it  can  be  done,  to 
fix  a  certain  amount  on  German  passengers  to  be  paid  over 
by  the  Mayor  and  City  Council  to  the  German  Society,  so 
as  to  get  a  respectable  fund  and  you  may  be  assured  that 
the  Society  will  by  such  law  become  more  numerous  and 
ere  long,  one  that  will  be  able  to  do  some  good  to  poor  Ger- 
mans arriving.  I  think  that  an  alteration  would  be  well  to 
be  made  if  it  can  be  done,  as  it  regards  children  instead 
of  five  to  say  ten  years  in  the  2nd  section  4th  line.  I  leave 
this,  however,  to  your  better  judgment,  so  soon  as  the  law 
has  passed,  you  will  please  to  send  a  copy  that  we  may  have 
it  printed  in  German,  English  and  French,  and  send  it  to  the 
different  ports,  where  Germans  arrive  from. 

I  remain  your  obdt.  servant, 

CHAS.  W.  KARTHAUS, 

By  supplemental  act,  passed  by  the  legislature,  1833, 
Chapter  177,  the  mayor  and  city  council  were  directed  +o 
pay  the  two-fifths  of  the  passengers  commutation  money 
to  the  German  Society  and  Hibernian  Society,  re 


GERMAN  SOCIETY  OF  MARYLAND  97 

spectively,  in  proportion  of  the  amounts  received  from 
German  and  Swiss  and  from  Irish  passengers.  So  that 
thereafter  the  German  Society  received  from  the  city  the 
sum  of  sixty  cents  from  the  commutation  money  paid  by 
every  German  and  Swiss  immigrant  arriving  in  the  city 
of  Baltimore.  The  owners  of  the  emigrant  vessels  col- 
lecting the  money  as  a  part  of  the  passage  money  before 
the  departure  from  the  old  country  and  paid  it  to  the  city 
on  the  arrival  of  the  vessel.  By  this  law  the  society  was 
relieved  of  its  financial  stress  and  enabled  with  far  greater 
efficiency  to  continue  its  good  work.  The  city  collected 
one  dollar  and  fifty  cents  from  each  emigrant  arriving  at 
this  port,  ninety  cents  whereof  went  to  the  city  poor-house 
and  sixty  cents  to  the  respective  national  societies  repre- 
senting the  countries  the  emigrants  came  from.  Accord- 
ing to  the  books  of  the  German  Society,,  the  German  emi- 
grants who  came  to  Baltimore  and  paid  sixty  cents  each, 
less  two  per  cent,  commission  to  the  city  register  for  col- 
lection as  provided  by  law,  were : 

From  1833 — 1840 44.584  persons 

From  1841 — 1850 50,660  persons 

From  1850 — 1860 73,722  persons 

From  1860 — 1869 49,513  persons 

From  1869 — 1876 53-375  persons 


Total  German  emigrants  to  Bal- 
timore who  paid  commutation 
money  from  1833  to  1876 272,218  persons 

In  1876  the  Supreme  Court  of  the  United  States  de- 
clared that,  under  the  late  immigration  law  passed  by 


98  HISTORY  OF  THE 

Congress,  no  State  had  a  right  to  collect  any  tax,  assess- 
ment, etc.,  from  passengers  arriving  at  its  port,  and  the 
owners  of  the  vessels  refused  to  pay  any  further. 

The  society  receiving  the  commutation  money  enlarged 
its  activity  by  authorizing  each  of  the  twelve  managers 
to  give  assistance  by  printed  orders  furnished  them  or 
the  treasurer  of  the  society.     It  also  contributed  regularly 
to  the  eastern  dispensary  of  the  city.     In  1832  Albert 
Schumacher  appears  as  one  of  the  managers  and  remained 
c.n  active  officer  until  his  death  in  1871.     He  was  at  first 
one  of  the  collectors  of  contributions  for  the  ninth  and 
tenth  wards.     In  the  year  1825  the  ever  faithful  Ben- 
jamin J.  Cohen  was  elected  treasurer  and  held  that  re- 
sponsible position  by  annual  re-election  until  his  death  in 
the  year  1845,  when  his  worthy  son,  Israel  Cohen,  was 
elected  his  successor  in  office  and  retained  bv  annual  re- 
election until  his  sudden  death  in  June,  1875 — ^fty  vears, 
twenty  thereof  by  the  father  and  thirty  years  by  the 
son,  were  the  finances  of  the  society  entrusted  in  the 
custody,  care  and  fidelity  of  Benjamin  Cohen  and  his 
son,  Israel  Cohen.     The  records  show  their  painstaking 
care  and  efficiency.     Their  annual  reports  are  full  and 
lucid  in  detail,  with  sound  advice  as  to  management  and 
investment  of  the  funds  of  the  society,  with  solicitous 
care  for  the  poor  beneficiaries,  so  that  not  a  dollar  appears 
to  have  been  misplaced  or  lost  during  their  remarkably 
long  years  of  gratuitous  service  in  their  important  office 
of  trust  and  responsibility.     Their  noble  and  steadfast 
devotion  to  charity  is  so  well  expressed  by  Israel  Cohen 
in  his  thirty-first  and  last  report  as  treasurer  on  January 
2,  1875,  in  the  following  words  : 


GERMAN  SOCIETY  OF  MARYLAND  99 

"The  policy  inaugurated  some  years  since  of  adding  to 
our  permanent  fund  as  opportunity  offered  (without  at  the 
same  time  denying  relief  to  the  suffering)  has  born  its  good 
fruits  and  whilst  we  can  report  no  increase  of  our  perma- 
nent fund,  still  we  have  met  every  call  upon  us,  and  are 
enabled  to  present  our  condition  as  last  reported,  prepared 
and  seeking  to  perform  our  part  fully  and  efficiently." 

In  special  meeting  held  June  4,  1875,  the  officers  of  the 
society  deplored  the  loss  of  their  valued  friend  and  effi- 
cient officer  (Israel  Cohen)  who  discharged  the  duties  of 
his  office  with  such  great  fidelity  and  satisfaction,  etc., 
and  caused  appropriate  resolutions  to  be  published  in  the 
daily  papers  and  entered  on  the  records  of  the  society. 

In  July,  1834,  the  officers  were  informed  that  gross 
impositions  were  practiced  upon  German  and  Swiss  immi- 
grants arriving  in  the  city  of  Baltimore.  On  motion  of 
Mr.  Salomon  Etting,  it  was  resolved  that  circulars  in  Ger- 
man and  English  language  be  printed  to  be  handed  to  the 
captains  and  consignees  of  every  vessel  arriving  in  Balti- 
more with  German  and  Swiss  immigrants;  that  a  com- 
mittee of  the  society  consisting  of  W.  C.  Karthaus,  John 
P.  Strobel  and  Charles  G.  Boehm  may  be  applied  to  for 
information  and  redress. 

Many  immigrants  arriving  here  in  those  years  from 
the  interior  of  Germany  under  very  erroneous  informa- 
tion and  wrong  impressions  of  the  condition  of  this  coun- 
try and  thereby  on  their  arrival  here  were  utterly  dis- 
appointed, low-spirited  and  often  dispairing  of  their 
future.  The  society,  therefore,  adopted  an  address,  pre- 
pared by  Mr.  F.  L.  Brauns,  to  those  in  Germany  who 
intended  to  emigrate  to  this  country,  containing  full  and 


ioo  HISTORY  OF  THE 

correct  information  of  its  condition  and  sound  advice  as 
to  their  requirements  on  their  long  journey  across  the 
Atlantic  and  their  arrival  and  settlement  here ;  also  warn- 
ing those  not  fit  or  too  infirm,  not  to  come,  and  of  the 
character  and  object  of  the  society.  It  was  signed  by  the 
officers  of  the  society  and  with  the  approbation  of  the 
foreign  consuls,  members  of  the  society. 

By  a  resolution  passed  October  3rd,  1834,  it  was 
ordered  that  3,000  copies  of  the  address  be  forwarded 
and  distributed  in  the  different  principalities  in  Germany 
from  whence  most  of  the  emigrants  came. 

Messrs.  F.  W.  Brune,  F.  L.  Brauns,  A.  Schumacher, 
Dr.  F.  E.  B.  Hintze,  Fredk.  Focke,  Charles  W.  Spilker, 
John  P.  Stroble,  Mathias  Benzinger,  Samuel  Keerl  and 
Salomon  Etting  were  especially  active  officers  and  mana- 
gers of  those  years.  Charles  F.  Mayer  and  F.  W.  Brune, 
Jr.,  were  the  counsellors. 


GERMAN  SOCIETY  OF  MARYLAND  101 


CONVICTS. 

Baltimore,  July  1st,  1837. 

At  the  meeting  of  the  officers  of  the  society  the  presi- 
dent having  communicated  to  the  meeting  intelligence  he 
received  from  the  German  newspapers  published  in  Phila- 
delphia of  a  number  of  convicts  being  on  their  way  to  the 
United  States  destined  to  New  York  or  Baltimore,  and 
transported  to  this  country  under  the  direction  of  public 
authorities  in  Germany.  It  was  resolved  that  the  presi- 
dent be  instructed  to  communicate  this  information  to  the 
mayor  of  the  city  of  Baltimore,  accompanied  with  a 
translated  extract  from  the  newspaper  and  suggest  to  the 
mayor  the  propriety  of  such  interposition  as  the  laws  may 
allow  to  prevent  the  landing  of  such  convicts  in  Balti- 
more or  to  send  them  back  to  Germany,  and  in  the  ab- 
sence of  all  legal  authority  for  such  objects,  to  recommend 
to  the  mayor  the  expediency  of  having  the  attention  of 
the  State  or  general  government  called  to  such  evils,  with 
a  view  to  appropriate  enactments,  and  further  that  the 
president  be  authorized  to  proffer  pecuniary  aid  from  this 
society  in  conjunction  with  means  from  the  corporate 
authorities  of  Baltimore  for  returning  the  convicts  to 
Germany,  and  particularly  that  the  president  state  to  the 
mayor  that  the  society  will  through  a  committee  of  their 
body  visit  the  vessels  arriving  with  passengers  in  con- 
junction with  any  committee  of  the  city  council  to  inquire 
into  the  character  of  the  passengers  and  when  it  is  ascer- 
tained that  vagrants  or  convicts  be  on  board  that  the 
society  will  co-operate  with  the  city  authorities  in  all 


io2  HISTORY  OF  THE 

necessary  measures  for  the  returning  of  such  passengers 
to  Germany.  Resolved,  that  a  committee  of  three  be  ap- 
pointed to  wait  on  the  mayor  and  confer  with  him  upon 
the  subject  of  the  aforegoing  resolution.  Solomon  Et- 
ting,  John  P.  Strobel  and  F.  L.  Brauns  were  appointed 
the  committee. 

The  extract  from  the  German  newspaper  published  in 
Philadelphia  on  the  first  day  of  July,  1837,  translated  as 
follows  is : 

"Thuringen,  Germany,  April  loth,  1837. 
"A  number  of  convicts  out  of  the  prison  of  Gotha  will 
be  sent  in  a  few  days  under  the  escort  of  a  secret  police 
officer  to  Bremen  in  order  to  be  transported  to  the  United 
States  of  America,  New  York  or  Baltimore." 

In  consequence  of  which  C.  G.  Boehm,  Chas.  Spilker 
and  S.  P.  Strobel  were  afterward  appointed  a  committee 
by  the  president  to  act  in  conjunction  with  the  city  au- 
thorities on  board  of  the  vessel  arrived,  on  which  sus- 
picion rested,  but  no  results  were  effected  by  it.  The 
closest  investigation  made  by  the  officers  of  the  city  au- 
thorities, assisted  by  the  committee  of  the  society,  failed 
to  find  any  convicts  among  the  German  immigrants  who 
came  here.  The  same  charge  was  again  made  a  number 
of  years  later,  in  the  Know- Nothing  times,  which  also 
proved  unfounded. 

It  stands  to  reason  that  emigrants  who  came  to  make 
this  country  their  future  permanent  home,  would  not  suf- 
fer convicts  to  accompany  them  without  making  it  known 
on  their  arrival  here,  to  have  them  transported  back  to 
the  country  from  whence  they  came,  and  to  those  settled 


103 

here  it  was  a  matter  of  their  very  existence  and  happi- 
ness that  no  convicts  of  their  old  country  should  be  per- 
mitted to  land.  There  is  no  reliable  evidence  that  con- 
victs or  felons  were  ever  at  any  time  shipped  by  any  of 
the  German  governments  to  the  United  States.  Political 
prisoners  were  sometimes  pardoned  on  condition  that  they 
leave  the  country,  these  would  go  to  England  or  come  to 
our  country  and  would  become  excellent  citizens.  Dif- 
ferent was  the  case  with 


IO4  HISTORY  OF  THE 


"PAUPERS." 

Persons  unable  to  work  and  without  means  of  support, 
harmless,  but  undesirable  citizens,  a  burden  to  every  com- 
munity wherein  they  live,  and  everywhere  at  all  times 
communities,  more  or  less,  have  availed  themselves  of 
every  good  opportunity  to  get  rid  of  them.  If  a  pauper 
is  desirous  to  change  his  habitation  to  another  country 
or  distant  city,  with  no  or  little  prospect  of  his  return,  I 
would  like  to  know  the  county,  town  or  city  which  would 
not  furnish  him  free  transportation;  this  was  done  to 
some  extent  by  German  communities  and  the  German 
Society  of  Maryland  has  done  its  utmost  to  prevent  it. 
The  paupers  who  succeeded  in  landing  here,  were  the 
most  persistent  and  pressing  claimants  for  aid  and  sup- 
port from  the  society,  a  burden  to  its  officers,  and  an  ex- 
pense and  injury  to  the  community.  The  law  prohibi- 
ting the  landing  of  these  unfortunates  here,  it  was  cruel 
to  transport  them  back  in  the  slow  sailing  ships  to  the 
port  they  came  from  in  Europe.  The  society  made  ef- 
forts to  prevent  their  embarkation  at  these  ports  and  ap- 
pealed to  the  authorities  thereof. 

At  the  meeting  of  the  board  of  officers  held  March 
1 7th,  1838,  Mr.  F.  W.  Brune  read  an  ordinance  passed 
by  the  senate  of  the  city  of  Bremen,  the  port  from  whence 
most  of  the  German  emigrants  sailed  for  Baltimore,  re- 
ferring to  and  preventing  the  exportation  of  paupers 
and  vagrants.  On  motion  of  Mr.  Solomon  Etting  the 
same,  with  an  appropriate  preamble,  was  ordered  to  be 
spread  upon  the  minutes  of  the  society.  In  the  next 


GERMAN  SOCIETY  OF  MARYLAND  105 

year,  December  26th,  1839,  the  society  passed  a  law  for 
the  board  of  officers  to  elect  annually,  at  a  fixed  salary, 
an  agent  of  the  society  to  collect  the  dues  from  the  mem- 
bers and  perform  such  other  duties  as  the  Board  may 
prescribe  for  him.  At  the  next  meeting  the  board  elected, 
as  the  agent  of  the  society,  Mr.  Conrad  Lindeman,  at  the 
yearly  salary  of  $300.  His  duties  were,  beside  collect- 
ing members'  dues,  to  examine  carefully  and  report,  the 
condition  of  applicants  for  assistance,  which  may  be  re- 
ferred to  him  by  the  president  or  any  of  the  board  of 
managers,  promptly  to  visit  all  vessels  arriving  at  this 
port  with  German  passengers,  and  kindly  and  benevo- 
lently aid  them  with  his  counsel,  which  may  be  suggested 
by  the  president  and  officers  of  the  society,  as  to  their 
residence  whilst  here,  and  their  permanent  location  either 
here,  or  in  any  other  State  or  territory  of  our  country; 
and  daily  to  call  on  the  president  for  orders. 

It  could  not  be  prevented  that,  among  the  hundred 
thousands  of  German  immigrants  who  landed  at  this 
port,  in  the  course  of  time,  a  small  percentage  would  be- 
come a  burden  to  the  city  or  were  paupers,  and  much  was 
said  of  this  in  those  years ;  but  the  great  mass  became  in- 
dustrious, prosperous  citizens  and  taxpayers,  and  paid 
their  honest  share  for  the  support  of  the  poor  of  the  city. 

It  should  also  be  borne  in  mind  that  272,218  German 
immigrants  who  landed  here  in  the  years  1833  to  1876, 
paid  to  the  city  of  Baltimore  the  sum  of  $408,327  in  com- 
mutation passenger  money,  supposed  to  be  for  the  sup- 
port of  any  pauper  which  may  have  been  among  them 
and  become  a  burden  to  the  city.  A  very  large  sum  of 
money  and  in  excess  of  the  proportion  of  paupers  which 
may  have  been  among  them.  The  United  States  Govern- 


io6  HISTORY  OF  THE 

ment,  under  the  Immigration  Laws,  now  collects  four 
dollars  from  every  immigrant  who  comes  to  our  hospi- 
table shores,  but  not  a  dollar  of  the  money  is  expended 
for  the  support  of  the  poor,  as  formerly. 

In  1840,  on  motion  of  Gen.  Joshua  Medtardt,  a  com- 
mittee was  appointed  to  revise  and  amend  the  by-laws  of 
the  society  and  Messrs.  F.  W.  Brune,  Benj.  I.  Cohen, 
Gen.  J.  Medtardt,  and  the  counsellors  F.  W.  Brune,  Jr. 
and  Brantz  Mayer,  Esqs.,  were  named  as  the  committee. 

At  the  meeting  of  December  26th,  1840,  Mr.  Albert 
Schumacher,  one  of  our  most  prominent  merchants,  and 
consul  for  the  Hansa  towns,  was  elected  president  and 
held  that  office  by  re-election  for  more  than  thirty  years 
until  his  death  June  26th,  1871. 

In  December,  1841,  Mr.  Claas  Vocke  was  elected  sec- 
retary of  the  board  of  officers,  and  later  as  president  and 
vice-president,  remained  an  officer  of  the  society  for  more 

than  sixty-two  years  until  his  death  in , 

1903. 

In  1841,  on  motion  of  Dr.  August  Wegner,  the  presi- 
dent and  secretary,  were  requested  to  draw  up  a  petition 
to  the  legislature  of  Maryland  for  the  appointment  of  an 
interpreter  of  the  German  language  in  the  courts  of  the 
city  of  Baltimore,  and  thereafter  a  German  interpreter 
was  always  one  of  the  bailiffs  of  the  courts.  The  anni- 
versary meetings  of  the  society  and  the  meetings  of  the 
officers  were  up  to  1842  held  at  Beltzhoover's  Hotel, 
where  also  the  anniversary  dinners  took  place.  On 
January  3rd,  1842,  the  society  and  board  of  officers  met 
at  Boizards'  European  Hotel,  thereafter  and  for  the  first 
time  December  26,  1842,  at  the  rooms  of  the  society 
"Germania,"  No.  40  North  Howard  street.  This  society 


CLAAS  VOCKE 


GERMAN  SOCIETY  OF  MARYLAND  107 

now  called  "The  Germania  Club"  has  ever  since  then 
and  to  the  present  day,  free  of  costs,  generously  placed 
its  well-furnished,  commodious  rooms  at  the  disposal  of 
the  yearly  and  quarterly  meetings  of  the  German  Society 
of  Maryland  and  the  meeting  of  its  officers. 

In  the  session  of  the  State  legislature  of  1842,  Mr.  Ris- 
teau,  a  delegate  from  Baltimore  county,  introduced  a  bill 
to  repeal  the  act  of  1833  allowing  the  German  and  Hi- 
bernian societies  two-fifths  of  the  passenger  commutation 
money.  The  German  Society  held  a  meeting  to  protest 
against  the  passage  of  an  act  depriving  her  of  an  income, 
being  only  a  part  of  the  money  collected  from  German 
immigrants  ostensibly  for  assistance  and  support  of  the 
poor  among  them,  and  applied  by  the  society  together 
with  other  money,  supplied  by  its  members,  for  the  very 
purpose  of  assisting  these  poor  Germans  in  the  most 
economical,  best  philanthropic  manner.  A  strong  com- 
mittee of  five  with  the  able  counsellor  Chas.  F.  Mayer, 
Esq.,  as  chairman,  was  elected  to  devise  ways  and  means 
to  prevent  the  adoption  of  the  bill;  it  was  defeated  and 
the  society  continued  to  enjoy  the  income  of  the  two-fifths 
of  the  passenger  money.  The  liberal  annual  donations 
to  the  public  free  dispensaries  of  medicine  to  the  poor 
were  increased  and  the  salary  of  the  two  physicians  of  the 
society  of  $50  increased  to  $100  a  year,  which  by  a  reso- 
lution of  the  society  was  declared  not  intended  as  a  com- 
pensation for  their  services  but  with  a  view  to  cover  a 
portion  of  their  actual  expenses  incurred  in  the  cause  of 
charity.  The  position  of  a  physician  of  the  German 
Society  must  have  been  very  desirable  among  the  medical 
profession  of  the  city,  there  were  most  always  several 


io8  HISTORY  OF  THE 

candidates  in  the  field  and  often  a  contest  which  required 
repeated  ballotting. 

We  find  famous  physicians  among  them,  Dr.  Charles 
A.  Wiesenthal,  and  Wm.  Zollikoffer  in  the  eighteenth 

century,  Drs.  Jacob  Baer, Diffenderfer,  August  J. 

Schwartze,  George  Frick,  Huttner,  August  Wegner, 
Joshua  J.  Cohen,  F.  E.  B.  Hintze,  William  Keerl,  Dd- 
ward  Schwartze,  Henry  Albers,  F.  Schurman,  J.  Hamel, 
L.  Morawitz,  etc. 

In  1844  there  appeared  again  in  several  newspapers 
the  old  story  that  convicts  had  been  sent  from  some  parts 
of  Germany,  it  was  a  vague  general  charge,  based  upon 
a  malevolent  rumor.  The  society  took  up  the  matter  and 
in  meeting  adopted  the  following  resolution  presented 
by  Mr.  B.  J.  Cohen : 

"Resolved :  That  a  committee  of  three  be  appointed  to 
inquire  into  the  truth  or  falsehood  of  the  charge  made  in 
the  public  prints,  that  convicts  are  sent  from  some  of  the 
states  of  Germany  to  our  shores, — and  that  if  such  is  the 
fact,  proper  measures  be  taken  by  said  committee,  to  en- 
deavor to  prevent  such  immigration,  and  if  the  facts  be  not 
true  as  stated,  that  the  public  mind  be  disabused  of  such 
impression,  calculated  as  it  is,  to  excite  and  perpetuate 
prejudice." 

This  was  seconded  by  F.  W.  Brune.  The  chair  ap- 
pointed on  the  committee  Messrs.  Biedemeyer,  Cohen  and 
Kail.  On  motion  of  Col.  Mathias  Benzinger  it  was  re- 
solved that  the  above  resolution  be  published  in  the  news- 
papers. As  in  the  previous  charge  of  the  same  nature  no 
evidence  of  the  truth  thereof  could  be  found.  Notwith- 


GERMAN  SOCIETY  OF  MARYLAND  109 

standing,  this  malicious  baseless  charge  was  again  often 
repeated  in  later  years,  especially  in  Know-Nothing  times 
and  as  often  refuted. 

There  was  a  steady  increase  from  year  to  year  of  Ger- 
man immigrants  who  favored  the  port  of  Baltimore  as 
convenient  to  reach  by  the  national  turnpike  across  the 
Alleghanies  the  cities  of  Wheeling  or  Pittsburg,  from 
there  to  go  by  river  boats  down  the  Ohio  and  confluent 
rivers  and  waterways  to  the  new  States  and  territories  of 
the  far  west.  It  was  a  long  irksome  trip  by  horse  and 
wagon  across  the  mountains  to  Wheeling  or  Pittsburg. 
An  advertisement  which  appeared  in  "The  German  Cor- 
respondent,'' a  Baltimore  paper,  announced  that  an  ex- 
press conveyance  had  been  established  whereby  the  immi- 
grant would  reach  Pittsburg  in  fourteen  days.  Cumber- 
land was  one  of  the  resting  and  forwarding  stations  on 
the  route  to  Wheeling.  It  was  reported  to  the  German 
Society  that  German  immigrants  had  been  grossly  im- 
posed upon  by  the  forwarding  agent  at  Cumberland,  by 
being  utterly  deceived  in  regard  to  the  character  of  con- 
veyances in  which  they  were  forwarded  from  Cumberland 
to  Wheeling.  The  society  placed  the  complaints  in  the 
hands  of  its  counsellor,  William  F.  Frick,  Esq.,  to  prose- 
cute the  contractor  for  transportation  of  this  city  as  well 
as  the  forwarding  agent  in  Cumberland  for  obtaining 
money  under  false  pretenses. 

Among  such  a  large  immigration  there  were  always 
some  mechanics  and  laborers  who  had  not  the  means 
to  pay  the  expense  and  costs  of  the  journey  to  the 
west  or  preferred  to  stay  here.  They  were  honest 
men,  willing  to  work  if  they  could  find  employment,  but 


no  HISTORY  OF  THE 

being  strangers  here,  ignorant  where  to  look  for  it. 
The  society  to  assist  them,  in  1845,  appointed  Mr. 
William  Numsen,  C.  Deecke  and  C.  W.  Lentz  as  a  com- 
mittee  to  consider  and  report  on  the  expediency  of  estab- 
lishing an  intelligence  bureau,  where,  free  of  costs,  men 
seeking  employment  could  obtain  information  and  advice 
and  employers  could  leave  orders  for  men  they  were  in 
need.  The  committee  made  a  favorable  report  and  that 
Friedrich  Raine,  the  proprietor  and  publisher  of  the  Ger- 
man Correspondent,  a  public  spirited  citizen,  offered  for 
a  very  moderate  compensation,  and  only  in  view  of  the 
benevolent  object,  to  place  the  bureau  in  the  office  of  his 
newspaper,  the  society  to  pay  for  a  permanent  advertise  • 
ment  in  the  Sun,  American  and  German  Correspondent 
and  for  the  pamphlets  to  be  freely  distributed  on  board 
of  arriving  immigrant  vessels.  The  society  accepted  the 
offer  of  Mr.  Raine  and  on  January  16,  1845,  entered  into 
a  binding  contract  with  him.  Mr.  Raine  was  to  keep 
a  record  of  all  applicants  for  work  and  of  those  who  ob- 
tained employment  through  the  bureau  and  annually  make 
a  report  to  the  society.  He  reported  more  than  2,000 
applicants,  whereof  600  found  employment  in  the  first 
year;  more  than  3,500  applicants  whereof  the  greater  part 
found  employment  in  1846.  The  existence  of  the  intel- 
ligence bureau  became  known  in  nearby  towns,  and  in 
the  following  years  thousands  of  workmen  were  sent 
through  the  agency  of  the  bureau  to  Cumberland,  York, 
Washington,  Boonsboro  and  places  where  factories  were 
in  operation  or  railroads  being  built. 

In  January,  1853,  the  intelligence  bureau  was  removed 
to  the  house  of  Jacob  Ober,  No.  59  Thames  street.   Jacob 


GERMAN  SOCIETY  OF  MARYLAND  in 

Ober  was  appointed  the  agent  to  have  charge  of  said 
bureau  on  a  salary  of  $250  a  year,  $50  rent  and  $100 
for  clerk  hire. 

In  the  month  of  July,  1845,  a  gross  outrage  had  been 
committed  in  the  city  by  several  ruffians  upon  the  person 
of  a  young  German  girl  named  Margaretha  Sailer, 
recently  arrived  from  Germany  with  her  brother.  The 
ruffians  were  arrested  and  committed  to  prison  for  trial 
of  their  crime,  to  take  place  at  the  next  October  term  of 
the  criminal  court.  The  girl  was  required  as  prosecuting 
witness  for  the  State,  to  give  bail  in  the  sum  of  one  thou- 
sand dollars  for  her  appearance  at  the  trial  of  the  case,  or 
else  be  confined  until  then  in  jail.  She  had  no  relatives 
nor  friends  here  except  her  brother,  who  was,  like  her,  a 
stranger  and  an  immigrant,  to  give  bail  for  her  and  keep 
her  out  of  prison.  It  was  then  that  Mr.  Charles  Degen- 
hardt,  one  of  the  managers,  and  a  Mr.  Hess  gave  tempo- 
rarily bail  for  her  till  the  next  day,  when  it  was  to  be 
renewed  or  the  girl  go  to  jail.  The  president,  Mr.  Schu- 
macher, on  being  informed,  at  once  called  a  special  meet- 
ing of  the  officers  of  the  German  Society  to  take  proper 
steps  for  the  protection  of  the  unfortunate  girl.  The 
meeting  was  fully  attended.  In  the  absence  of  Messrs. 
Brune  and  Frick,  the  regular  counsellors,  from  the  city, 
George  William  Brown,  Esq.,  later  chief  judge  of  the 
Supreme  Bench  of  Baltimore,  acted  in  their  place  and 
stead  and  represented  the  society  in  the  cause  at  court. 
The  society,  with  the  consent  of  the  court,  placed  Marga- 
retha Sailer  and  her  brother  in  care  of  a  committee  of 
three,  with  the  family  of  a  Mr.  Sollers,  and  paid  for  their 
board  and  lodging  until  the  trial  of  the  case. 


H2  HISTORY  OF  THE 

In  1846  Mr.  Charles  Caspar!,  for  many  years  a  well- 
known  German  apothecary  in  this  city,  was  elected  by 
the  officers  to  furnish  at  the  costs  and  expense  of  the 
society  on  the  order  and  recipe  of  its  physicians  medicines 
to  the  sick  poor.  In  1849  the  immigration  increasing-, 
two  more  apothecaries,  Mr.  Stehl  and  Mr.  Koechling, 
were  added  as  dispensaries  of  medicine  under  the  control 
of  the  society's  physicians,  and  a  Mr.  Treiber,  a  resident 
of  Cumberland,  Maryland,  was  requested  to  post  the  so- 
ciety of  any  imposition  that  mig>ht  be  perpetrated  by  any 
of  the  lines  forwarding-  immigrants. 

Mr.  Frederick  Schepeler  was  appointed  in  1849  as  one 
of  the  committee  to  examine  the  treasurer's  report.  Some 
years  thereafter  he  went  back  to  Germany  and  remained 
there.  He  must  have  taken  with  him  a  strong  impression 
of  the  good  work  the  German  Society  of  Maryland  was 
doing.  Forty-five  years  thereafter,  in  1895,  he  sent  from 
his  home  in  Miinden,  Germany,  to  the  society  a  generous 
donation  of  one  thousand  dollars. 

The  failure  of  the  revolution  of  the  year  1848  in  Ger- 
many for  a  more  popular  representative  government,  and 
the  reactionary  laws  and  measures  which  followed,  caused 
a  wide-spread  discontent  among  its  population.  The 
leaders  and  most  active  men  in  the  revolutionary  move- 
ment fled  their  native  country  to  escape  political  prosecu- 
tion, imprisonment  and  even  death.  Most  of  them  after 
a  sojourn  in  Switzerland,  France  or  England  came  to  the 
United  States  as  refugees  and  with  few  exceptions  re- 
mained here  to  become  excellent  citizens.  They  were 
mainly  journalists,  teachers,  lawyers,  artists,  physicians, 
scientists,  army  officers,  musicians,  etc.,  all  men  of  high 


GERMAN  SOCIETY  OF  MARYLAND  113 

culture  and  idealists.  The  first  of  these  arrived  here  in 
1849.  Their  number  increased  in  the  following-  years, 
and  then  it  seemed  as  if  a  huge  army  were  following  their 
officers.  Among  the  writer's  fellow  emigrants  which 
crossed  the  Atlantic  from  Bremen  in  1855  m  tne  snip 
"Minerva,"  the  principal  topics  of  conversation  of  the 
men  was  their  part  in  the  fighting  on  the  barricades  in 
the  revolution  of  1848-49. 

The  full  tide  of  emigration  from  Germany  to  America 
took  place  in  the  years  from  1850  to  1861.  Many  skilled 
mechanics  and  small  tradesmen  left  the  towns,  but  the 
host  and  multitude  came  from  the  agricultural  country. 
The  writer  recollects  well,  when  in  the  years  from  1850 
to  1855,  entire  villagers  in  the  central  part  of  Germany 
sold  or  abandoned  their  acreage  and  all  the  inhabitants, 
from  100  to  500  men,  women  and  children,  with  their 
pastor,  school-teachers  and  burgomaster  emigrated  to 
America.  In  season  he  would  daily  see  wagon  trains 
loaded  with  trunks,  boxes,  implements,  bedding,  house- 
hold goods,  often  with  the  cradle  on  the  top,  the  women 
and  children  on  the  wagons,  the  peasant  men  in  their 
blouses  walking  alongside,  men  and  horses  decorated 
with  artificial  gay  flowers,  pass  on  the  turnpike  leading 
north  to  Bremen  or  Hamburg,  there  to  embark  for  Amer- 
ica. More  than  100,000  of  these  landed  in  that  period  in 
Baltimore,  the  agricultural  class  most  all  to  proceed  from 
here  to  the  then  far  west  to  found  new  farming  settle- 
ments; the  skilled  mechanics,  artists,  etc.,  to  the  various 
cities  and  towns,  and  an  uncertain  percentage  would  re- 
main here.  There  was  a  great  and  good  work  to  do 
for  the  German  Society  of  Maryland.  No  matter  how 


H4  HISTORY  OF  THE 

intelligent  a  man  may  be,  if  he  cannot  by  his  ignorance  oi 
language  make  himself  undestood,  he  is  or  at  least  ap 
pears  stupid.  He  will  make  mistakes,  can  easily  be 
imposed  upon  and  being  a  passing  stranger,  there  are 
men  w*ho  will  take  advantage  of  him,  and  some  designing 
men  will  make  it  a  trade  by  gaining  the  confidence  of  the 
stranger  by  knowing  and  speaking  his  own  language, 
to  swindle  and  rob  him.  To  protect  the  honest  emi- 
grants against  these  vampires  of  society  and  to  inform 
them  of  the  conditions  awaiting  them  on  their  arrival 
here,  the  German  Society  had  annually  thousands  of  cir- 
culars of  useful  information  printed  here  and  sent  to  the 
emigration  ports  of  Hamburg,  Bremen,  Amsterdam  and 
Havre  to  be  distributed  on  the  vessels  among  the  pas- 
sengers before  their  departure.  On  their  arrival  here  the 
agent  of  the  society  boarded  the  vessels  and  again  distri- 
buted other  circulars  of  wholesome  information,  ready  to 
advise,  assist  and  protect  them  against  fraud  and  imposi- 
tion. Mr.  Jacob  Ober,  who  had  been  elected  agent  for  the 
intelligence  office  of  the  society  in  January  of  1853,  died 
in  July  of  the  same  year,  and  Mr.  H.  F.  Wellinghoff  was 
elected  his  successor  and  by  yearly  re-election,  held  that 
office  for  thirty  years,  until  April,  1883,  when  he  resigned 
by  reason  of  old  age.  Mr.  Wellinghoff  was  instructed  to 
keep  an  office  at  Fells  Point,  near  the  landing  of  the  emi- 
grant ships.  His  salary  was  $600  a  year.  He  was  also 
furnished  a  clerk.  Mr.  C.  Lindemann  was  retained  as 
agent  in  the  city.  He  was  now  styled  inspector,  and  in 
1859  succeeded  by  a  Mr.  John  R.  Hiltz,  who  thenceforth 
was  called  second  agent.  The  medicine  dispensaries 
were  increased  to  seven,  located  in  various  parts  of  the 
city.  To  prevent  paupers  from  landing  and  having  them 


GERMAN  SOCIETY  OF  MARYLAND  115 

transported  back  to  the  port  they  came  from,  remained 
one  of  the  duties  of  the  agents  and  of  remonstrance  by  the 
society  to  the  agencies  in  Bremen. 

The  foregoing  dates  have  been  taken  from  the  record 
of  the  proceedings  of  the  officers.  The  records  of  the 
proceeding  of  the  society  up  to  the  year  1861  were  des- 
troyed by  fire.  We  now  turn  for  information  to  the 
records  of  the  society  of  January  16,  1861,  recorded  by 
Herman  von  Kapff,  secretary,  and  fine!  after  the  election 
of  officers,  resolutions  prepared  by  G.  W.  Lurman,  T. 
Cohen  and  H.  von  Kapff,  committee,  deploring  the  death 
of  F.  W.  Brune  and  Charles  G.  Boehlm,  former  vice-presi- 
dents, and  H.  G.  Jacobson,  all  original  and  continuous 
members  and  founders  (1817)  of  the  society.  A  com- 
mittee of  Mr.  E.  Hirshfeld,  C.  Nitze,  C.  Bulling,  F.  Has- 
sencamp  and  J.  Bruehl  were  appointed  to  procure  new 
members.  The  report  of  Israel  Cohen,  treasurer,  shows 
191  contributing  members;  cash  surplus  from  last  anni- 
versary dinner,  $10.51 ;  interest  on  investments  of  $27,000 
Baltimore  and  Ohio  Railroad  First  Mortgage,  $1,620; 
$6,500  Baltimore  city  6  per  cent,  loan,  $390;  passengers' 
money,  $3,889.03;  expended  for  physicians,  $300; 
agents,  $910.60;  trusses,  cupping  and  leaching,  $78.25; 
paupers'  conveyance  to  almshouse,  $12;  and  returning  to 
Europe,  $15;  medical  prescriptions,  3,077;  prescriptions, 
$547.66;  printing,  etc.,  $97.26;  charity  on  orders  of 
managers,  $2,018.20;  new  investments,  $1,000;  Baltimore 
city  6  per  cent,  $972.50;  Maryland  State  stock,  $3,000. 

The  society  then  at  the  beginning  of  the  Civil  War  had 
a  capital  of  $36,500,  safely  invested,  and  by  this  prudent 
foresight  fairly  well  prepared  to  meet  the  coming  storm. 
In  1 86 1,  the  first  year  of  the  war,  industry  and  trade  were 


n6  HISTORY  OF  THE 

suspended  in  Baltimore.  The  mechanics  and  laborers 
were  without  employment,  unable  to  earn  their  daily 
bread.  Four  thousand  one  hundred  and  fifty-eight  per- 
sons applied  in  that  year  to  the  society  for  pecuniary 
assistance,  and  on  investigation  found  worthy  and  given 
relief.  The  free  medical  prescriptions  numbered  4,608. 
To  meet  these  wants  the  members  increased  their  sub- 
scriptions and  the  society  sold  $4,000  Baltimore  City  6 
per  cent,  stock,  due  1896,  for  $3,422.50.  The  German 
immigration  diminishing  to  such  extent  that  only  2,172 
German  emigrants  arrived  in  Baltimore  in  1862.  The 
income  from  passenger  money  was  small.  However,  at 
the  end  of  that  year,  Israel  Cohen,  the  treasurer,  in  his 
annual  report  says : 

The  operations  of  the  past  year  show  a  diminution  of 
sixty  per  cent,  in  our  receipts  and  a  corresponding  decrease 
say  fifty  per  cent,  as  compared  with  those  of  1861.  The 
former  were  increased  last  year  (1861)  owing  to  the  sales 
of  $4,000  city  stock,  which  was  required  by  the  pressing 
wants  of  the  unemployed,  whilst  during  this  year,  the  ex- 
cessive demand  for  labor  has  provided  for  very  many,  who 
would  otherwise  have  been  dependent  upon  the  bounty  of 
the  Society.  The  receipts  from  passengers  show  a  falling 
off  as  compared  with  last  year  of  forty  per  cent.  The  appli- 
cations for  assistance  has  fallen  from  4,158  in  1861  to  1,116 
applicants  in  1862.  It  may,  however,  be  prudent  to  antici- 
pate a  much  larger  call  upon  our  charity  before  the  expira- 
tion of  the  present  year  (1863)  and  it  behooves  us  to  pre- 
pare for  the  coming  storm.  The  present  invested  fund  is 
$32,500.  Should  it  become  necessary  to  encroach  upon  this 
fund  to  aid  those  who  most  need  it,  and  for  whose  benefit 


GERMAN  SOCIETY  OF  MARYLAND  117 

it  has  been  accumulated,  it  surely  will  in  the  exercise  of  wise 
charity  not  have  been  needlessly  gathered.  The  disposition 
of  this  subject,  may,  I  think,  be  properly  entrusted  to  the 
finance  committee,  etc.,  etc. 

The  report  closes  with  the  following : 

The  undersigned  cannot  close  this  brief  report  without 
bearing  testimony  as  far  as  has  passed  under  his  observa- 
tion, as  to  the  faithful  performance  of  every  duty  of  the 
different  branches  of  the  Society,  and  whilst  recommending 
a  continuance  of  the  same  well  doing,  he  must  suggest  every 
species  of  economy  and  as  is  consistent  with  prudence,  not 
intending  to  deprive  any  who  may  be  deserving  of  receiving 
the  full  benefits  of  this  noble  charity,  but  with  the  object 
of  so  dispensing  our  income  that  the  greatest  good  may  be 
done  to  the  greatest  number,  and  that  when  peace  and  hap- 
piness shall  once  more  be  restored  to  us,  we  may  have  the 
proud  satisfaction  of  pointing  to  our  past  actions  with  gen- 
erous pride,  and  be  prepared  to  continue  our  journey  with 
the  same  satisfaction,  we  have  experienced  for  so  long  a 
period. 

The  apprehension  of  the  good  treasurer  of  a  coming 
storm  of  much  larger  call  upon  the  charity  of  the  society, 
however,  was  not  confirmed.  The  year  1863  and  subse- 
quent years  were  of  great  prosperity  to  Baltimore.  Being 
near  the  seat  of  war,  Baltimore  became  a  depot  of  army 
supplies  and  war  material.  New  industries  and  manu- 
factories were  started,  large  numbers  of  soldiers  and 
strangers  visited  the  city  and  made  purchases.  There 
was  plenty  of  work  to  be  done  at  good  wages.  Immigra- 
tion gradually  increased,  the  demands  for  charity  de- 


u8  HISTORY  OF  THE 

creased  and  the  society  gained  new  members.  In  Janu- 
ary, 1865,  thirty-four  new  members  joined.  A  commit- 
tee consisting  of  Charles  W.  Lentz,  Frederick  Raine, 
William  Numsen  and  Charles  Spilker  was  appointed  to 
assist  the  State  authorities  to  promote  immigration  to 
Maryland.  The  salaries  of  the  physicians  were  increased 
to  $200,  and  of  the  agents  to  $700  and  $300  a  year,  re- 
spectively. Seven  apothecaries  in  different  parts  of  the 
city  were  appointed  to  dispense  medicines  at  the  expense 
of  the  society.  In  1868  Vice-President  Charles  Spilker, 
a  most  efficient  officer  and  member  c\  the  society  since 
1833,  departed  this  life,  and  appropriate  resolutions  were 
passed  at  a  special  meeting  held  April  6.  A  convention 
of  State  Immigrant  and  Benevolent  Societies  of  the 
United  States  was  held  at  the  Broadway  Hall,  in  Balti- 
more, in  the  middle  of  April,  1868.  The  society  took 
part  in  the  proceedings  and  paid  the  expenses  of  $267.05. 
This  is  the  only  item  in  the  books  of  the  society  during 
the  many  years  of  its  existence  not  strictly  and  directly 
spent  for  charity.  The  membership  in  1869  was  200 
and  increased  in  1870  to  217. 

A  bill  pending  before  the  legislature  of  Maryland  im- 
posing increased  taxation  on  arriving  immigrants,  the 
society  at  a  meeting  held  March  29th,  1870,  passed  a 
series  of  resolutions  protesting  against  the  passing  of 
such  laws  or  measures,  and  Jacob  Trust,  Alexander  Wolf 
and  H.  Wilkens  were  appointed  a  committee  to  present 
the  resolution  to  the  legislature;  the  bill  was  defeated. 
On  January  i8th,  1871,  the  first  donation  of  two  hundred 
and  fifty  dollars,  and  in  the  following  years  until  1876 
in  all  the  sum  of  nineteen  hundred  dollars  was  given  by 
the  society  to  the  General  German  Orphan  Asylum;  of 


GERMAN  SOCIETY  OF  MARYLAND  119 

Baltimore  City.  On  the  27th  of  June,  1871,  the  society 
suffered  a  severe  loss  by  the  death  of  its  venerable  Presi- 
dent Albert  Schumacher,  who,  for  over  30  years,  had  pre- 
sided at  its  meetings  and  guided  the  affairs  of  the  society. 
He  was  one  of  our  foremost  merchants,  a  public-spirited, 
liberal  citizen,  who  took  an  active  part  in  all  affairs  tend- 
ing to  the  advancement  of  Baltimore  city.  His  death 
was  generally  deplored  by  all  citizens  and  by  the  members 
of  the  society  in  special  meeting  assembled.  In  his  last 
will  he  bequeathed  to  the  society  $10,000  of  Baltimore 
city  stock,  the  interest  on  which  to  be  annually  divided 
among  destitute  Germans,  or  suffered  to  accumulate  till 
it  may  be  concluded  by  the  said  society  to  found  a  hospi- 
tal or  a  home  of  refuge  for  which  purpose  also  the  whole 
or  part  of  his  bequest  may  be  applied. 

The  object  of  establishing  a  General  German  Hospital 
for  the  care  of  sick  and  destitute  Germans  as  mentioned 
in  the  bequest  was  long  considered,  fully  discussed  and 
canvassed  by  the  society  and  referred  to  a  committee 
consisting  of  H.  von  Kiapff,  Isaac  Cohen,  Wm.  Numsen, 
Ferdinand  Hassenkamp,  Christian  Ax,  Claas  Vocke, 
Jacob  Trust  and  Dr.  Geo.  Reuling,  who  reported  that  un- 
less the  sum  of  $30,000  be  first  raised  by  private  sub- 
scription, it  was  not  practical  for  the  German  Society  to 
establish  a  hospital.  The  report  was  adopted.  The 
munificent  donation  by  Johns  Hopkins  for  a  general  hos- 
pital in  the  city,  about  that  time,  however,  appeared  to 
the  members  and  citizens  generally,  to  make  the  establish- 
ment of  such  a  small  hospital  less  urgent  and  desirable 
and  nothing  further  was  done  in  the  matter. 

Herman  von  Kapff,  a  merchant  and  vice-president  of 
the  society,  was  elected  the  successor  of  Mr.  Schumacher 


120  HISTORY  OF  THE 

and  by  successive  annual  elections  remained  president 
seven  years  until  1878,  when  he  declined  a  re-election. 
At  the  meeting  of  January  4th,  1875,  the  death  of  Col. 
Mathias  Benzinger  for  many  years  an  active  manager  of 
the  society  was  announced,  and  resolutions  deploring  his 
loss  were  passed.  At  the  yearly  meeting  of  January  2Oth, 
1875,  Israel  Cohen,  the  treasurer,  read  his  thirty-first, 
and  which  was  to  be  his  last,  yearly  report.  It  was  as 
all  his  annual  reports,  very  full,  lucid  and  encouraging. 
Proud  of  the  achievements  of  the  society  in  giving  proper 
relief  to  the  destitute  and  suffering,  full  of  wise  counsel 
to  the  management  and  as  to  the  future  of  the  noble 
charitable  work,  wherein  he  and  his  father  before  him 
had  taken  such  a  signal  part.  He  concludes  his  report 
with  the  following  pathetic  words : 

"In  conclusion  then  the  undersigned  has  but  to  repeat 
his  earnest  prayers,  that  we  may  continue  to  render  every 
aid  and  comfort  to  the  deserving  poor — that  the  sick  and  the 
destitute  may  be  fully  cared  for,  and  that  in  the  future  we 
may  not  do  injustice  to  our  record  of  the  past." 

On  the  3rd  day  of  June  following,  this  noble  man  sud- 
denly died,  within  four  years  after  his  friend  and  cola- 
borer  in  the  field  of  the  noble  charity,  Albert  Schumacher, 
the  president  for  more  than  thirty  years,  had  departed. 
Mr.  Cohen  could  well  say:  that  the  future  may  not  do 
injustice  to  our  record  of  the  past.  The  record  of  the 
society  of  the  following  period,  and  to  the  present  time, 
shows  no  abatement  in  the  true  spirit  of  charity,  economy, 
efficiency  of  management,  and  conscientious  performance 
of  duty,  from  the  noble  record  of  their  predecessors.  The 


121 

demands  upon  the  society  increased  as  the  city  expanded, 
and  the  duties  of  the  office  of  president  became  so  mani- 
fold and  onerous,  that  it  could  not  be  expected  that  a  per- 
son of  large  business  affairs  of  his  own,  holding-  that  of- 
fice, could  have  the  time  and  leisure  to  perform  them. 
The  society  after  due  consideration  thereof  on  January 
22nd,  1877,  resolved  to  rent  and  open  a  business  office 
located  near  the  centre  of  the  city,  where  its  two  agents, 
every  day  from  9  o'clock  A.  M.  to  2  o'clock  P.  M.,  shall 
attend  to  the  business  of  the  society.  The  first  agent  to 
have  the  control  and  draw  weekly  from  the  treasurer 
funds  on  orders  signed  by  the  president,  to  pay  the  orders 
of  and  signed  by  the  respective  managers  or  president,  to 
the  applicants  for  charity.  The  first  agent  to  keep  full 
and  correct  books  of  account  and  information  and  give 
bond  in  the  sum  of  five  hundred  dollars  for  the  faithful 
performance  of  his  duties :  the  second  agent  to  be  sub- 
ordinate to  the  first  agent  and  to  give  bond  in  the  sum  of 
$250.  The  president,  if  convenient  to  visit  the  office 
daily  and  to  have  absolute  control  over  the  agents  and 
conduct  of  business:  the  agents  to  visit  the  immigrant 
vessels  on  their  arrival  and  the  first  agent  is  authorized 
if  necessary  to  employ  proper  persons  as  assistants  on 
such  arrival  of  emigrants.  The  office  to  be  also  a  free 
labor  bureau  to  those  seeking  work  or  employment  and 
the  agents  to  treat  those  seeking  assistance  with  kindness 
and  politeness. 

By  this  necessary  new  arrangement  of  keeping  an  of- 
fice the  expenses  of  the  society  were  still  further  increased. 
They  were  in  1873,  $8,146;  in  1874,  $9,028;  in  1875, 
$8,735;  in  ^76  the  United  States  Court  decided  that  no 
State  could  impose  a  tax  on  the  landing  of  immigrants, 


122  HISTORY  OF  THE 

this  being  within  the  exclusive  jurisdiction  of  the  general 
government.  Thereupon  the  steamship  lines  and  owners 
of  immigrant  vessels  refused  to  pay  further  the  commu- 
tation tax  for  their  passengers.  This  was  a  loss  of  thou- 
sands of  dollars  yearly  of  the  income  of  the  society,  whilst 
there  was  no  diminution  of  the  expenses,  the  applications 
for  charitable  assistance  rather  increased  and  the  mana- 
gers were  not  inclined  to  refuse  proper  relief  out  of  the 
treasury  of  the  society.  As  a  matter  of  course  the  report 
of  John  R.  Seemuller,  the  treasurer  elected  as  successor 
of  Israel  Cohen,  dec.,  at  the  end  of  the  year,  1876,  showed 
a  deficit  of  $1,393.17  and  for  the  first  time  the  invested 
capital  of  the  society  was  encroached  upon  by  the  sale  of 
some  of  its  Baltimore  city  stock,  etc. ;  its  capital  at  that 
time  was  $75,500.  To  meet  the  emergency,  the  yearly 
dues  of  members  was  raised  from  three  dollars  to  five 
dollars,  with  a  loss  of  twelve  members,  but  the  remaining 
members  in  1877  by  voluntary  contributions  over  and 
above  the  $5  dues,  contributed  the  sum  of  $548  to  meet 
the  deficiency  of  1877.  At  the  yearly  meeting  of  January 
1 6th,  1878,  Mr.  Claas  Vocke,  a  merchant  who  for  years 
had  been  a  prominent  active  officer  of  the  society,  was 
elected  president,  and  Ed.  Nieman  treasurer..  On  March 
26th,  1878,  a  special  meeting  passed  resolutions  on  the 
recent  death  of  the  Vice-President  Charles  W.  Lentz,  for 
forty  years  one  of  the  officers  of  the  society.  Mr.  Hein- 
rich  F.  Wellinghoff  on  July  ist  completed  the  twenty- 
fifth  year  of  faithful  service  as  agent  of  the  society  and 
resolutions  of  congratulation  to  him  \vere  spread  on  the 
minute  book  of  the  officers.  On  July  igth  a  special  meet- 
ing deplored  by  approbate  resolutions  of  the  death  of 
Frederick  W.  Brune,  Esq.,  for  more  than  forty  years  a 


123 

member  and  for  the  last  thirty  years  one  of  its  faithful 
reliable  counsellors.  There  were  234  members  in  1877 
and  221  in  1878,  the  total  expenses  for  the  year  1878 
were  reduced  to  $4,351.57  by  the  more  economical  work- 
ing of  the  medical  department,  and  reducing  the  salaries 
of  its  four  physicians  from  $200  to  $100  each,  per  annum. 
The  invested  capital,  in  covering  the  deficiency  of  the 
income,  was  further  reduced  by  $500.  All  efforts  to  in- 
crease the  membership  proved  fruitless,  more  resigned 
than  were  admitted,  there  were  but  206  members  in  1880; 
185  in  1881 ;  178  in  1882;  170  in  1883;  194  in  1884;  190 
in  1885;  199  in  1886;  218  in  1887;  443  in  1888;  403  in 
1889;  391  in  1890.  H.  F.  Wellinghoff,  the  agent  of  the 
society  having  become  by  old  age  too  feeble  to  perform 
the  duties  of  his  office,  the  board  dispensed  with  his  serv- 
ices and  on  February  5th,  1883,  appointed  Julius  Conrad 
his  successor  at  a  salary  of  $600  a  year,  and  Carl  Schling- 
loff  was  appointed  second  agent  at  a  salary  of  $30  a 
month.  In  1885  the  society  removed  its  office  from  No. 
147  West  Lombard  street  to  No.  78  South  Sharp  street, 
and  Schlingloff  having  resigned  as  agent,  G.  A.  Traut- 
wein  was  appointed  in  his  place.  The  expenses  in  the 
salaries  of  the  agents  being  reduced,  the  strictest  economy 
enforced;  the  society  could  not  reduce  the  wants  of  the 
poor  and  suffering.  These  were  mostly  widows  with  in- 
fant children  having  no  means  of  support  except  by  their 
hard  work.  The  wages  for  woman's  work  in  those  years 
were  starvation  wages.  Thirty  cents  for  sewing  a  dozen 
heavy  shirts,  28  cents  for  a  dozen  drawers,  etc.,  were  the 
ordinary  wages.  A  widow  with  small  children,  who  had 
to  do  her  sewing  at  home,  could  with  16  hours  daily  work, 
earn  but  two  to  three  dollars  a  week,  not  to  speak  of  sick- 


124  HISTORY  OF  THE 

ness  of  herself  or  children.  The  society  therefore  con- 
tinued to  make  inroads  on  the  capital  invested  in  former 
prosperous  years.  In  1881  the  deficit  was  $196.68;  in 
1882,  $586.12;  in  1883,  $1,360.69;  in  1884,  $1,641.22; 
in  1885,  $1,909.60;  in  1886,  $1,420;  in  1887,  $935.54;  in 
1888,  $1,048.20 ;  in  1889,  $1,096.49.  At  this  rate,  if  con- 
tinued for  twenty-five  years,  the  entire  capital  of  the  so- 
ciety would  be  consumed,  and  if  viewed  by  the  experience 
of  similar  societies,  the  German  Society  of  Maryland 
would  be  extinct.  Radical  changes  in  the  working  of 
the  society  were  adopted  and  the  next  year  showed  a  sur- 
plus of  $1,250,  and  no  further  deficit  occurred  thereafter. 
At  the  end  of  the  year  1886,  Mr.  Claas  Vocke  declined 
a  re-election,  and  Louis  P.  Hennighausen,  one  of  the, 
counsellors  of  the  society  since  1884,  on  January  24th, 
1887,  was  elected  president  and  by  re-election  (1909)  re- 
tains that  office.  We  have  read  how  the  society  in  its 
infancy  and  early  years  of  its  existence!  waged  a  long  and 
hard  fight  against  the  abuses  of  the  redemptioner  system, 
procured  good  and  wholesome  laws  for  the  protection  of 
thje  redemptioners,  prosecuted  evil-doers  and  liberated 
free  born  white  servants  who  were  treated  as  slaves  by 
their  masters.  It  was  in  the  years  of  the  presidency  of 
Mr.  Vocke  that  the  society  was  again  called  upon  to  as- 
sist and  liberate  a  class  of  men  who  were  unlawfully  kept 
in  quasi  slavery,  cruelly  treated,  robbed,  and  some  mur- 
dered, these  were 

OYSTER  DREDGERS. 

Men  who  had  hired  on  vessels  in  the  waters  of  the 
Chesapeake   Bay  to   dredge   for   oysters   in   the   winter 


GERMAN  SOCIETY  OF  MARYLAND  125 

season.  It  was  very  hard  wcrk  done  on  small  schooners, 
called  pungies  or  buckeyes  manned  by  six  to  ten  men, 
captain,  mate  and  cook.  The  season  is  from  October  to 
April,  a  heavy  iron  dredge  is  lowered  by  windlass  in  the 
water  to  the  bottom  and  with  a  fair  breeze  moving,  the 
dredge  will  scrape  the  bottom  of  the  bay  and  scoop  the 
oysters,  the  dredge  with  the  oysters  in  it,  is  then  by  men 
turning  the  windlass,  raised  above  and  emptied  on  the 
deck  of  the  vessel,  where  the  oysters  are  culled  and  the 
marketable  thrown  in  the  hold.  It  was  estimated  that 
20.000  men  were  in  those  years  engaged  in  the  oyster  in- 
dustry on  the  waters  of  the  Chesapeake.  The  bottoms 
were  yet  full  of  oysters,  and  if  the  wind  was  fair  and  the 
water  free  of  ice,  dredging  would  often  be  done  day  and 
night,  and  in  a  couple  of  weeks  they  would  have  a  full 
load  for  the.  market.  Hard  work,  but  often  very  lucra- 
tive. The  inhabitants  of  the  shore  counties,  usually 
worked  on  shares  with  the  owners  and  captains  of  the 
boat  and  fared  well,  so  did  boats  from  Baltimore,  and  if 
on  wages  no  complaints  were  made  known  by  them. 

It  was  from  the  vessels  belonging  to  the  counties  of 
Maryland  and  Virginia  bordering  on  the  shores  of  the 
lower  or  southern  parts  of  the  bay.  dredging  with  hired 
labor  obtained  from  Philadelphia,  New  York.  Pittsburg. 
etc.,  that  the  reports  of  terrible  suffering,  cruel  treatment 
and  horrible  murders  reached  Baltimore,  The  negroes 
of  Baltimore,  after  the  experience  of  a  few  seasons  on 
these  oyster  vessels,  refused  to  hire  any  more,  then  there 
were  some  cases  of  shanghieing  negroes  in  the  city  for 
these  vessels.  The  publicity  by  the  daily  press  of  these 
crimes  and  the  activity  of  our  police,  soon  put  an  end  to  it. 
It  was  then  the  home  labor  market  by  the  knowledge  of 


126  HISTORY  OF  THE 

the  cruel  treatment  of  the  men  being  closed,  that  the  so- 
called  shipping  offices,  applied  to  the  large  cities  of  the 
north  for  men  to  hire  as  oyster  dredgers,  promising  from 
twelve  to  fifteen  dollars  a  month  wages,  good  eating, 
lodging  and  fair  treatment,  for  reasonable  work.  There 
are  always  in  the  winter  season  in  large  cities,  honest  men 
willing  and  able  to  work,  out  of  employment  and  short  of 
means.  The  shipping  agent  or  runner  would  be  paid  two 
dollars  by  the  captain  of  the  oyster  boat  for  every  man 
he  induced  to  sign  an  agreement  to  work  as  oyster 
dredger  for  good  wages,  etc.  The  men  were  not  told 
that  the  two  dollars  commission  and  railroad  fare  to  Bal- 
timore would  be  deducted  out  of  their  first  month's  wages, 
and  the  kind  and  character  of  the  work  was  not  explained 
to  them.  The  men  were  glad  to  get  work  at  fair  wages. 
Americans,  Irish,  Germans,  Italians,  etc.,  were  taken  by 
rail  in  droves,  under  the  care  of  a  shipping  man  from  New 
York  to  Baltimore,  where  they  arrived  usually  at  night 
time,  and  from  there  on  board  of  a  vessel,  to  be  taken  to 
the  lower  bay  and  distributed  among  the  oyster  dredging 
boats.  They  were  sedulously  kept  from  intercourse  with 
any  outsider  on  the  trip.  They  usually  commenced  to 
work  at  5  o'clock  in  the  morning  and  until  dark  in  the 
evening,  received  the  coarsest  food,  and  had  to  sleep  with- 
out bedding  in  the  small  forepeak  of  the  boat.  They 
were  a  motley  crowd  of  unfortunates,  who  were  thus  put 
to  a  work  whereof  they  had  not  the  slightest  knowledge 
or  experience,  among  them  were  by  profession:  clerks, 
teachers,  students,  bookkeepers,  mechanics,  artists,  farm- 
ers, laborers,  etc.  Strangers  to  the  land,  to  the  work  and 
to  each  other.  The  captains  used  to  the  hard  life,  were 


LOUIS   P.   HENNIGHAUSEN 


GERMAN  SOCIETY  OF  MARYLAND  127 

at  home,  fully  armed  and  with  the  authority  of  the  law, 
bent  upon  to  get  as  much  out  of  the  men  by  their  hard 
work  as  they  could.  The  men  during  the  cruise  were  not 
allowed  to  go  on  shore,  when  they  had  a  cargo  of  oysters 
it  was  transferred  to  a  steamboat  or  larger  vessel  and 
taken  to  Baltimore  or  Philadelphia.  They  were  held  and 
treated  as  captives,  those  of  tender  physic  would  soon 
break  down  from  the  exposure  and  hard  work;  often  the 
flesh  of  their  hands,  being  cut  and  poisoned  by  the  pyster 
shells  became,  violently  inflamed,  having  the  so-called 
oyster  hand,  very  painful  and  requiring  weeks  of  medical 
treatment.  If  after  cruel  beating,  the  men  were  still 
shown,  unable  to  work,  they  were  put  ashore  without  pay, 
on  some  place  many  miles  from  a  city,  to  make  their  way 
the  best  they  could  in  the  midst  of  winter  to  the  distant 
hospitals  of  Baltimore  which  they  filled  every  winter  in 
large  numbers.  The  farmers  and  captains  of  the  steam- 
boats were  as  a  rule  kind  to  these  poor  men  and  aided 
them  to  reach  the  city.  These  were  the  ordinary  ills  and 
suffering  of  these  oyster  dredgers,  but  in  the  course  of 
time  when  dredging  was  not  always  so  profitable,  and  the 
captains  by  immunity  of  their  cruelties  to  the  foreign 
crews  had  become  used  to  it,  awful  crimes  of  the  darkest 
nature  became  frequent  in  those  waters.  The  waters  of 
the  bay  extend  about  180  miles  to  the  capes,  with  thou- 
sand of  miles  of  shore  of  inlets  and  tide  water  rivers.  The 
shores  are  sparsely  settled  and  whilst  we  had  an  oyster 
navy  to  protect  the  oysters  from  unlawful  depredation, 
we  had  no  police  protection  for  the  unfortunate  dredger, 
defenseless  at  the  mercy  of  a  brutal,  fully  armed  captain, 
and  although  it  was  well  known  and  published  by 


128  HISTORY  OF  THE 

the  newspapers,  that  numerous  hideous  crimes  were  com- 
mitted on  these  waters.  It  became  a  habit  with  a  large 
number  of  captains,  at  the  end  of  the  season,  or  when  the 
severity  of  cold  had  covered  the  bay  with  ice  to  make 
dredging  impossible,  to  put  their  foreign  crews,  often 
severely  frost  bitten,  without  paying  them  any  of  their 
hard  earned  wages,  on  some  lonely  landing  on  shore  on 
the  lower  bay,  to  make  their  way  in  ice  and  snow  to  Bal- 
timore, Washington  or  Philadelphia.  Reports  came  that 
captains  had  shot  and  killed  men,  on  the  slightest  resist- 
ance or  threats,  although  the  men  had  no  weapons,  and 
the  flimsy  excuse  for  it  by  the  captains,  was  the  fear  of 
mutiny.  There  was  no  investigation.  On  information 
to  the  United  States  courts  the  answer  was,  we  have  no 
vessel  and  no  funds  at  our  disposal  to  go  the  great  dis- 
tance down  the  bay  to  find  out  and  arrest  the  offender. 
The  city  authorities  referred  the  matter  to  the  counties. 
Some  of  the  worst  cases  happened  in  the  Virginia  waters 
south  of  the  Potomac  River,  out  of  the  jurisdiction  of 
Maryland.  The  greatest  impediment  was  that  the  wit- 
nesses had  no  money  and  found  no  employment  to  remain 
here,  to  await  the  arrest  and  the  trial  of  the  offender. 
Being  strangers  here  they  were  anxious  to  get  to  their 
homes  and  among  their  friends.  In  December,  1884,  the 
horrible  murder  of  a  young  German  recently  immigrated 
from  Germany,  became  known  to  the  German  Society, 
and  was  the  beginning  of  its  struggle  and  efforts  for 
many  years,  to  protect  the  oyster  dredgers  from  the  bar- 
barous treatment  on  the  boats  in  the  Chesapeake  Bay.  It 
was  one  of  many  similar  cases  and  we  relate  it  in  full  ?.s 
disclosed  by  the  sworn  testimony  in  the  case : 


129 
OTTO  MAYHER, 

who  was  about  20  years  of  age,  was  a  hale,  hearty  looking 
fellow,  with  rosy  cheeks  and  a  bright,  healthy  appearance, 
He  was  the  son  of  a  surveyor  of  Stuttgart,  well  educated 
and  of  good  manners.  Among  his  effects  were  hand- 
somely engraved  visiting  cards  and  good  clothes.  Not 
f.-nding  for  some  time  after  his  arrival  here  any  employ- 
ment  or  work,  on  the  22nd  of  October,  1884,  he,  together 
with  Fritz  Boye  and  Ferdinand  Haase,  two  young  Ger- 
mans, who  had  arrived  in  this  country  within  a  year  in 
Baltimore,  shipped  with  Captain  Williams  of  the  pungy 
"Eva"  as  dredgers  for  a  two  months'  cruise.  The  agree- 
ments were  signed  in  a  shipping  office  run  by  a  German. 
Neither  of  them  could  speak  English  or  were  aware  of 
the  hardships  they  would  be  compelled  to  undergo.  Ail 
went  well  for  a  time.  They  worked  hard  and  were  fairly 
treated.  There  were  aboard  with  them  aside  of  Captain 
Williams,  William  Lankford  and  a  man  named  Rufus,  of 
Somerset  county.  About  a  week  before  his  death  May- 
her  complained  of  feeling  unwell.  He  told  his  comrades 
that  he  had  severe  pains  in  his  side  and  was  not  able  to 
work.  His  indisposition  was  attributed  by  them  to  ex 
posure  and  with  a  few  days'  rest  they  thought  he  would 
have  recovered.  The  captain,  however,  refused  to  let 
him  off.  He  was  ordered  to  his  work  as  usual  and  when 
he  finally  broke  down  and  declined,  he  was  knocked  down 
and  brutally  beaten.  From  that  day  Mayher  was  sub- 
jected to  the  most  horrible  treatment.  Among  other  pun- 
ishments was  that  of  being  hit  with  a  marlin  spike  and 
knocked  down.  He  was  then  kicked  until  he  fainted; 
again  he  was  beaten  with  a  rope  and  until  he  fairly  yelled 


130  HISTORY  OF  THE 

with  pain.  To  stop  his  cries  the  captain  planted  his  heel 
on  the  victim's  throat  and  stifled  him  into  unconscious- 
ness. At  another  time  a  rope  was  fastened  around  him 
about  his  arm  pits  and  he  was  hoisted  up  by  the  halyards, 
stripped  of  his  lower  garments  and  drenched  about  the 
lower  limbs  with  icy  cold  water.  On  the  day  before  his 
death  he  was  taken  down  in  the  hold  and  strung  up  by  his 
thumbs,  the  body  being  suspended  seven  feet  above  the 
f-ooring.  While  in  this  position  he  was  swung  to  and 
fro  in  order  to  increase  his  torture.  These  are  onlv 
samples  of  the  horrible  treatment  he  suffered.  He  be- 
came so  weak  that  he  was  scarcely  able  to  walk.  The 
vessel  had  then  reached  Lower  Fairmount,  where  the 
work  of  unloading  was  begun.  Mayher  was  down  in  the 
hold  when  ordered  up.  Unable  to  speak  English,  he  by 
signs  intimated  his  inability  to  work.  This  infuriated  the 
captain,  who  sprang  upon  his  defenceless  victim,  pounded 
him  unmercifully  with  a  bar.  Finally  he  brought  it  down 
with  crushing  effect  across  the  poor  fellow's  loins.  In  his 
agony  he  writhed  on  the  ground  and  shrieked  for  mercy 
as  best  he  could.  To  prevent  his  cries  being  heard  the 
captain  then  placed  his  boot  heel  on  the  prostrated  man's 
throat  and  kept  it  there  until  unconsciousness  prevented 
further  outcry.  The  work  of  unloading  was  continued, 
and  at  nightfall,  when  all  was  quiet,  the  captain  ordered 
Boye  and  Haase  to  bring  their  comrade  on  deck.  They 
obeyed  the  order,  and  more  dead  than  alive,  Mayher  was 
brought  from  below.  When  they  had  deposited  their 
burden  on  deck  they  were  ordered  below,  there  to  remain 
until  called.  They  went  below  and  the  hatches  were 
closed  on  them.  Hearing  the  clanking  of  chains,  patter- 
ing on  deck,  moving  of  the  anchor  and  the  dashing  of  the 


GERMAN  SOCIETY  OF  MARYLAND  131 

yawl  boat  against  the  side  of  the  vessel,  they  feared  the 
worst.  Suddenly  the  hurrying  noise  on-  deck  ceased  and 
all  was  still  as  death.  As  soon  as  they  considered  it  safe, 
the  two  men  ascended  and  cautiously  lifted  the  covering 
of  the  hatch  as  far  as  they  were  able.  They  saw  a  lantern 
moving  on  shore  and  the  lifeless  body  of  Mayher 
stretched  on  the  ground.  Mayher  had  been  taken  ashore 
by  the  captain  to  get  rid  of  him.  He  staggered  from 
weakness  and  either  fell  or  was  knocked  down  face  fore- 
most and  the  captain  placing  his  foot  on  the  neck  of  the 
prostrate  man,  stamping  on  it,  broke  the  victim's  neck. 
Williams  informed  the  coroner  of  the  county  next  morn- 
ing, November  29.  that  the  body  of  a  German  named 
Otto  Mayher  had  been  found  on  the  shore  of  the  Manokin 
river,  in  Lower  Fairmount.  Life  was  extinct.  A  jury 
of  inquest  was  summoned.  Captain  Williams  was  one  of 
the  jurors  and  the  principal  witness.  He  testified  that 
Mayher  on  the  day  before  had  fallen  in  the  hold  of  the 
vessel  and  seriously  injured  himself;  that  during  the 
night  he  must  have  walked  to  the  shore  where  he  was 
found.  Rufus  and  Lankford  corroborated  him  and  Boye 
and  Haase  were  not  called  from  the  vessel  to  testify  as 
witnesses.  And  the  jury  found  that  Mayher  had  died 
from  natural  causes.  The  body  of  Mayher  was  buried 
in  a  trench  of  about  two  feet  depth  on  the  shore,  and  tin; 
incident  was  soon  forgotten  like  the  graves  of  so  many 
poor  foreign  oyster  dredgers,  who  lost  their  lives  on  the 
waters  of  the  Chesapeake.  Captain  Williams  before 
morning  had  moved  his  vessel  with  Boye  and  Haase  on 
it  out  into  the  stream  and  prevented  any  one  from  coming 
on  board.  Immediately  after  the  inquest  he  sailed  away. 
During  the  four  weeks  that  followed  he  treated  the  two 


132  HISTORY  OF  THE 

Germans  much  better,  but  would  not  allow  them  to  have 
any  intercourse  with  any  one  outside  of  the  boat.  When 
discharging  a  cargo,  they  were  always  directed  below  and 
were  carefully  watched. 

They  were  afraid  of  their  lives  and  abided  the  time 
when  they  would  be  discharged  to  inform  the  proper 
authorities  of  this  most  foul  and  dreadful  murder.  They 
were  discharged  at  Crisfield  and  reached  Baltimore  about 
the  24th  of  December  and  informed  the  German  Consul 
of  the  crime.  The  consul,  by  his  attorney,  L.  P.  Hennig- 
hausen,  Esq.,  brought  the  matter  to  the  notice  of  the 
police  authorities  of  Baltimore,  who  at  once  took  action 
with  the  State's  attorney  of  Somerset  county.  Captain 
Williams  was  arrested  and  indicted  for  murder  in  the 
first  degree.  The  body  of  Mayher  was  exhumed  and  a 
decent  burial  given. 

President  Claas  Vocke,  on  hearing  of  the  murder,  di- 
rected F.  W.  Brune,  the  junior  counsel  of  the  society,  to 
communicate  with  the  State's  attorney  of  Somerset  county 
for  further  information  and,  on  January  5,  1885,  reac^ 
his  answer  to  the  meeting  of  the  board  and  made  arrange- 
ment for  the  boarding  and  lodging  of  the  two  witnesses, 
Haas  and  Boye,  who  were  without  means  or  employment, 
to  keep  them  here  until  the  trial  of  Captain  Williams, 
which  was  expected  to  take  place  in  April  next.  On  motion 
of  Mr.  H.  G.  Hilken  a  committee,  consisting  of  Messrs.  C. 
Vocke,  Christian  Ax,  Eb.  Niemann  and  the  counsellors, 
William  F.  Frick  and  F.  W.  Brune,  were  appointed  with 
authority  to  use  the  funds  of  the  society  in  order  that 
justice  be  done  in  the  Mayher  murder  case.  On  motion 
of  Christian  Ax  it  was  resolved  that  a  detective  be  em- 
ployed by  the  president  and  counsellors  to  aid  in  the 


GERMAN  SOCIETY  OF  MARYLAND  133 

investigation  of  the  case.  The  counsellor,  F.  W.  Brune, 
of  the  society  was  present  and  rendered  valuable  assist- 
ance to  the  State  in  the  trial  of  Captain  Williams.  Julius 
Conrad,  the  agent,  conducted  the  two  witnesses,  Boye  and 
Haase,  to  Somerset  county  and  remained  with  them  dur- 
ing the  trial.  Captain  Williams  was  convicted  of  murder 
in  the  second  degree  and  sentenced  to  18  years  in  the 
penitentiary.  The  conviction  and  sentence  was  confirmed 
by  the  Court  of  Appeals  of  Maryland  on  the  appeal  of 
Williams,  reported  in  64  Md.  Reports,  p.  383  to  395. 

At  the  meeting  of  the  board,  held  July  6,  1885,  the 
board  by  resolutions  deeply  deplored  the  loss  by  death  of: 
two  valuable  members,  Mr.  J.  H.  Hausenwald  and  Ferdi- 
nand Hassencamp.  At  a  meeting  of  January  4,  1886,  on 
motion  of  Mr.  Christian  Ax,  the  counsellors  were  re- 
quested to  inform  the  society  what  laws  from  congress 
or  legislature  were  necessary  for  the  protection  of  the 
crew  on  board  of  oyster  vessels,  and  at  the  yearly  meeting 
of  January  25,  1886,  Counsellor  Louis  P.  Hennigbausen 
made  a  full  report  of  a  body  of  laws  for  the  better  protec- 
tion of  the  crews  on  board  of  the  oyster  vessels,  of  which 
Counsellor  F.  W.  Brune  declared  himself  in  accord.  At 
the  suggestion  of  Mr.  F.  W.  Brune  and  on  motion  of  Mr. 
Chr.  Ax  a  committee  of  seven,  consisting  of  Claas  Vocke, 
F.  William  Brune,  L.  P.  Hennighausen,  Chr.  Ax,  Wm. 
Numsen,  H.  von  Kapff  and  Victor  Buschmann,  were  ap- 
pointed to  appear  before  the  legislature,  then  in  session  at 
Annapolis,  to  urge  the  adoption  of  such  laws.  The  com- 
mittee visited  Annapolis  and  appealed  to  the  legislature, 
but  the  legislature  adjourned  without  acting  upon  the 
matter;  the  influence  of  the  lower  counties  and  oyster 
industries  being  against  it  for  reason  of  the  costs,  etc.,  of 


134  HISTORY  OF  THE 

the  registration  of  crews  being  required  by  the  law.  The 
society,  however,  was  determined  to  renew  the  agitation 
and  persist  until  success  was  achieved.  At  the  next  legis- 
lature, in  January,  1888,  a  committee  of  25  instead  of  7 
from  the  German  Society  of  Maryland  was  appointed  to 
go  before  the  legislature  in  Annapolis  and  demand  the 
passage  of  laws  to  protect  the  oyster  dredgers.  F.  W. 
Brune,  Heinrich  C.  Tieck  and  Oscar  Wolff,  attorneys  at 
law,  were  appointed  a  special  committee  to  draft  suitable 
laws  to  be  submitted  and  accompany  the  committee.  The 
members  of  the  committee  were:  Claas  Vocke,  H.  von 
Kapff,  George  A.  Von  Lingen,  Frederick  Wehr,  Eb.  Nie- 
mann,  William  Middendorf,  Ernst  Schmeisser,  H.  G. 
Hilken,  Louis  Dohme,  John  Hinrichs,  V.  H.  Buschmann, 
Henry  Lauts,  H.  A.  Schultz,  Capt.  Henry  Steffens,  H. 
Knefely,  Chas.  Bein,  F.  Ellenbrock,  Joseph  Friedenwald. 
Charles  Hilgenberg,  P.  L.  Keyser,  Fr.  Oelmann  and  L.  P. 
Hennighausen.  Other  prominent  citizens,  members  of. 
the  society,  joined  the  committee  on  its  trip  to  Annapolis, 
and  it  was  an  imposing  demonstration  before  the  legis- 
lature in  behalf  of  the  poor  oyster  dredgers  for  their  better 
protection.  Addresses  were  made  by  Messrs.  Brune, 
Tieck,  Wolff  and  Hennighausen.  The  laws,  substantially 
as  recommended  by  the  society,  were  passed  by  the  legis- 
lature and  signed  by  the  governor,  to  go  into  effect  in  the 
year  1890,  January  I.  The  principal  provisions  of  the 
law  were :  A  registry  kept  by  commissioners  at  the  ship- 
ping ports  of  the  crews  of  every  oyster  dredging  boat, 
contracts  in  writing  before  the  commissioners  and  record 
thereof  of  the  period  of  time,  wages,  return  to  port,  etc., 
and  the  captain  to  account  for  every  man  not  returned ; 
and  adequate  punishment  for  violators  of  the  law. 


GERMAN  SOCIETY  OF  MARYLAND  135 

On  February  15,  1887,  Jacob  Rudolph,  one  of  the 
managers  of  the  society  for  the  preceding  twenty-two 
years,  departed  this  life,  and  at  a  special  meeting  of  the 
board  resolutions  deploring  his  loss  were  passed. 

Soon  thereafter,  on  March  21,  1887,  another  special 
meeting  was  called  by  the  president. 

Christian  Ax,  vice-president  of  the  society  since  1869 
and  for  many  years  an  active  member  and  liberal  con- 
tributor to  charity,  had  departed  this  life.  Resolutions 
deploring  his  loss  not  only  for  the  society,  but  that  the* 
German  inhabitants  of  the  city  had  lost  in  him  one  of 
their  best  and  truest  citizens,  were  passed. 

In  the  winter  of  1886-87,  on  the  report  of  cruel  treat- 
ment of  a  German  oyster  dredger  in  the  lower  bay,  the 
society  at  an  expense  of  $66.25  sent  a  tug  boat  with 
United  States  marshal  on  board  to  have  the  offending 
captain  arrested.  The  captain  hearing  of  this  escaped, 
but  \vas  later  arrested  on  land  and  punished.  In  April, 

1887,  the  society  received  from  one  H.  W.  Schmidt,  of 
Honolulu,  Sandwich  Islands,  $73  to  reimburse  it  for  the 
assistance   rendered   for  a  number  of  years  to   a  poor 
widow  of  the  name  of  Weber.    The  income  of  the  society 
not  being  sufficient  to  meet  the  demands  and  costs  espe- 
cially increased  by  the  efforts  to  protect  and  relieve  the 
oyster  dredgers,  some  of  its  members  made  strenuous 
efforts  to  increase  the  paying  membership  by  soliciting 
citizens  to  join  the  society,  and  at  the  meeting  of  April  2. 

1888,  Mr.    Ernst   Schmeisser  proposed   60,   Mr.   A.    C 
Meyer,  60;  Mr.  Charles  Weber,  Jr.,  33;  Mr.  Robert  M. 
Rother,   10;  Mr.  John  Hinrichs,  7,  and  Messrs.  Meech 
and  Conrad,  4,  a  total  of  174  new  members.     This  in- 
creased the  list  of  members  from  218  in  1887  to  443  in 


136  HISTORY  OF  THE 

r888,  the  largest  membership  the  society  ever  had.  In 
1889  it  decreased  to  400;  in  1890  to  389;  in  1891  to  373; 
in  1895  to  348;  in  1900  to  252  members.  It  then  slowly 
increased  again,  and  since  1904  has  averaged  from  300 
to  325  members  yearly. 

It  being  the  opinion  of  some  that  the  Germania  Club 
rooms  were  not  a  popular  meeting  place  for  the  society 
and  the  cause  of  its  limited  membership,  on  the  motion  of 
Ernst  Schmeisser  it  was  resolved  to  meet  thereafter  at 
some  other  place.  The  meetings  were  next  from  July  16, 
1888,  to  April  14,  1890,  held  at  the  Germania  Maenner- 
chor  Building,  on  Lombard  street.  These  were  found 
less  suitable  and  on  April  14,  1890,  and  July  14  the  meet- 
ings were  in  the  German  Orphan  Asylum,  on  Aisquith 
street.  The  locality  being  inconvenient,  the  society  on 
January  12,  1891,  and  thereafter  until  April,  1893,  met 
at  Raine's  Hall,  in  Baltimore  street,  corner  of  Postoffice 
avenue.  All  these  places  were  at  the  disposal  of  the 
society  free  of  rent,  with  no  expense  for  heating,  lighting 
or  cleaning.  The  smaller  attendance  at  those  meetings 
showed  that  the  old  home  in  the  rooms  of  the  Germania 
Club  was  after  all  the  best  meeting  place  for  the  society, 
and  on  application,  the  club  was  generous  to  receive  the 
society  again  on  April  10,  1893,  on  the  same  old  liberal 
terms,  free  of  rent  and  expense. 

The  United  States  Government  having  assumed  full 
control  of  the  landing  of  the  emigrants  by  immigrant 
commissions,  and  the  railroad  transporting  the  emigrants 
to  the  west  from  their  landing  pier  here,  the  former  activ- 
ity of  the  society  in  advising,  aiding,  protecting  and  tak- 
ing care  of  these  emigrants  became  superfluous,  and  it 
confined  itself  more  to  assist  the  needy  Germans  and 


GERMAN  SOCIETY  OF  MARYLAND  137 

descendants  of  Germans  living  in  our  midst,  and  amon.j- 
those  especially,  to  widows  with  infant  children  having  no 
income  or  support.  As  a  measure  of  economy  the  as- 
sistant agent  was  in  March,  1889,  discharged.  The  agent 
was  relieved  from  the  duty  of  attending  the  landing  of 
emigrants,  he,  to  remain  at  his  office  from  9  A.  M.  to  j 
P.  M.  to  attend  to  employment  seekers,  pay  orders  of  the 
managers  given  to  the  needy,  keep  books,  etc.,  and  after 
'.  P.  M.  to  visit  at  regular  intervals  those  who  received 
regular  monthly  allowance,  to  inspect  and  report  their 
condition,  and  carefully  to  investigate  every  new  appli- 
cant for  assistance  and  make  full  reports  to  the  officer  of 
the  board  for  action,  and  to  enter  the  reports  in  a  book 
kept  for  inspection. 

Mr.  Eberhard  Niemann,  the  faithful  treasurer,  being 
about  to  retire  from  business  and  spend  his  declining 
years  in  Germany,  resigned  his  office,  and  Charles  Weber, 
Jr.,  on  July  31,  1889,  was  elected  treasurer,  which  office 
he  held  until  his  death  June  30,  1908. 

To  prevent  further  inroads  upon  the  invested  capital  of 
the  society  by  yearly  deficits  and  thereby  its  ultimate  ex- 
tinction, Col.  Fredk.  Raine  in  the  annual  meeting  of  Jan- 
uary 27,  1890,  moved:  "That  henceforth  the  capital 
shall  be  kept  intact,"  which  was  unanimously  adopted. 
The  large  number  of  medicinal  prescriptions  which  had 
been  compounded  at  the  cost  of  the  society  and  the  salaries 
of  the  physicians  amounted  to  about  $  i  ,000  a  year.  There 
had  been  opened  in  different  parts  of  the  city  free  dis- 
pensaries of  medicine,  which  were  liberally  supported  by 
the  city  out  of  certain  fines  imposed  and  collected  by  the 
city  authorities.  Johns  Hopkins  Hospital  and  other  hos- 
pitals gave  free  medical  and  surgical  treatment  to  the 


138  HISTORY  OF  THE 

poor.  There  being  thus  ample  provisions  for  sick  in- 
digent poor  persons,  the  society  on  October  4,  1889,  dis- 
continued the  practice  of  furnishing  medicinal  prepara- 
tions free  of  charge.  The  salaries  of  the  physicians  was 
reduced  to  $200  a  year,  and  in  1894  only  one  physician 
was  appointed  without  any  fixed  salary,  he  to  be  paid  for 
whatever  professional  services  he  might  render  upon 
request  of  the  officers.  By  these  economic  measures  the 
society  was  enabled  to  support  more  liberally  poor  widows 
with  infant  children.  Every  member  of  the  board  hav- 
ing the  right  to  issue  an  order  on  a  printed  form,  directing 
the  agent  to  pay  to  the  person  described  therein  as  being  in 
need  and  worthy  of  assistance  a  sum  not  exceeding  five 
dollars,  it  was  found  that  some  of  the  managers  were 
more  generous  and  liberal  with  the  society's  money  than 
the  finances  allowed.  Others  would  give  without  taking 
the  trouble  of  a  personal  investigation  of  the  condition  of 
the  applicant.  A  committee  consisting  of  L.  P.  Hennig- 
hausen,  R.  M.  Rother,  Charles  Weber,  Jr.,  and  A.  C. 
Meyer  was  appointed  to  make  such  changes  and  sugges- 
tions as  would  prevent  further  deficits,  made  a  rigid 
investigation  and  discovered  a  number  of  unworthy  per- 
sons who  received  assistance  from  the  society  through 
orders  issued  by  careless  managers.  It  was  thereupon 
ordered  that  no  order  issued  by  a  manager  should  be  paid 
unless  the  agent  of  the  society  had  first  investigated  the 
condition  of  the  applicant  and  made  a  report  thereof  to  an 
executive  committee  of  three  members  to  be  annually 
appointed  by  the  president,  and  only  after  the  executive 
committee  had  approved  the  order  shall  the  treasurer  by 
the  agent  pay  the  same.  At  the  meeting  of  the  board  of 
January  27  and  February  10,  1890,  the  recommendations 


GERMAN  SOCIETY  OF  MARYLAND  139 

of  the  committee  were  adopted  and  the  president  ap- 
pointed R.  M.  Rother  the  secretary,  Charles  Weber,  Jr., 
the  treasurer,  and  A.  C.  Meyer  the  executive  committee. 
This  new  order  of  working  has  proved  satisfactory  and 
been  continued.  On  March  17,  1890,  on  recommenda- 
tions of  the  executive  committee,  thirty-one  pensioners  of 
the  society,  found  unworthy,  were  dropped  of  further 
assistance.  On  April  17  Mr.  Charles  Weber  announced 
the  death  of  Julius  Conrad,  the  agent,  and  Frederick 
Schad  was  elected  his  successor. 

In  January,  1889,  on  motion  of  Mr.  Rother,  a  ne\v 
edition  of  the  constitution  of  1868,  with  the  changes  and 
amendments  since  adopted,  was  ordered  to  be  printed. 
The  secretary  sent  communications  again  to  our  sister 
societies  of  New  York  and  Philadelphia,  requesting  them 
to  make  known  to  German  emigrants  by  circulars  and 
otherwise  of  the  character  and  danger  in  hiring  as  oyster 
dredgers  in  our  bay.  The  officers  of  the  society  also 
induced  fhe  'Hon.  A.  S.  Hewitt,  the  mayor  of  New  York, 
10  summon  the  shipping  agents  licensed  by  the  city  before 
him,  and  admonish  them  that  he  would  revoke  their 
license  if  they  continued  shipping  men  as  oyster  dredgers 
tc  the  lower  bay.  However,  the  trade  was  too  lucrative 
and  the  lower  bay  so  distant  as  to  be  practically  out  of 
reach  of  the  law ;  so  the  trade  in  hiring  these  ignorant  men 
continued.  In  the  beginning  of  the  season  of  1889-90  a 
case  of  great  cruelty  was  reported.  At  the  request  of  the 
board  our  attorney,  Heinrich  C.  Tieck,  Esq.,  with  a 
United  States  Marshal  and  a  warrant  for  the  arrest  of 
the  captain,  Lynn  Rea,  and  mate,  John  Ucey,  of  the  oyster 
boat  "Ella  Agnes,"  went  down  the  bay  and  arrested  them 
on  the  \vater,  brought  them  to  Baltimore,  where  they 


140  HISTORY  OF  THE 

were  in  the  United  States  District  Court  tried,  convicted 
and  punished.  The  captain  was  sentenced  to  six  months' 
imprisonment  and  to  pay  a  fine  of  $100;  the  mate,  Ucey, 
to  three  months  in  prison.  The  crew,  Eugene  Jungling, 
George  Ricks,  Wilhelm  Hoffman,  Joseph  Scherf  and 
John  Junker,  were  kept  as  witnesses,  and  after  the  trial  on 
March  10,  1890,  they  reimbursed  out  of  their  witness 
fees  the  German  Society  in  the  sum  of  $35,  expenses  in- 
curred on  their  behalf.  The  attorney  generously  refuse-! 
any  compensation  for  his  arduous  work;  and  it  is  to  be 
noted  that  no  attorney  of  the  society  ever  charged  or 
would  accept  any  compensation  for  the  many  and  great 
services  they  rendered  to  the  society  in  its  noble  work  of 
humanity  in  protecting  the  innocent  oppressed  poor  anl 
unfortunate.  The  crew  in  a  patfhetic  letter  expressed 
their  deep-felt  gratitude  to  the  society  for  their  liberation 
out  of  slavery  and  cruel  treatment.  The  punishment  of 
Capt.  Rea  and  Mate  Ucey  made  some  impression  on  the 
captains  and  for  some  years  no  cruelties  were  reported. 
The  discharging  and  landing  of  men  on  distant  desolate 
shores,  without  paying  them  their  wages,  however,  con- 
tinued. In  December,  1889,  a  German  recently  arrived, 
vho  could  not  understand  a  word  of  English,  was  after  a 
month's  work  as  oyster  dredger,  without  a  cent  of  his 
wages  paid,  put  on  shore  in  Dorchester  county.  Being  a 
total  stranger,  unable  to  make  himself  understood,  afraid 
of  violence,  he  slept  in  the  woods.  He  was  arrested  and 
committed  for  three  months  to  the  work-house.  Th* 
society  being  informed  of  it,  by  habeas  corpus  proceed- 
ings in  the  Baltimore  City  Court  on  the  22nd  day  of 
December,  1889,  procured  his  freedom.  He  at  once 
found  employment  at  his  trade  as  a  mechanic.  He  had  a 


141 

trunk  filled  with  his  clothes,  tools,  etc..  stored  at  a  board- 
ing-house in  Baltimore  and  proved  to  be  an  industrious, 
honest  man. 

At  the  session  of  the  legislature  of  1890  the  shipping 
agents,  oyster  captains  and  their  friends  made  strenuous 
efforts  to  have  the  law,  which  was  passed  by  the  legisla- 
ture of  1888  for  the  protection  of  oyster  dredgers,  re- 
pealed. The  officers  of  the  society  succored  by  the  active 
aid  of  the  Maryland  .Prisoners'  Aid  Society,  the  Hiber- 
nian, St.  Andrew  and  St.  George  Societies  of  Baltimore, 
opposed  the  repeal  and  succeeded.  Commissioners  under 
the  law  were  appointed  and  confirmed  by  the  senate.  In 
June,  1890,  a  petition  for  the  pardon  of  Captain  Williams, 
the  murderer  of  Otto  Mayher  was  filed  with  the  Governor 
of  the  State.  He  had  served  only  five  years  of  his  term 
of  1 8  years  for  his  awful  crime.  A  large  delegation  of 
the  society  together  with  delegates  from  the  charity  so- 
cieties aforenamed  went  before  the  governor  and  pro- 
tested against  granting  the  pardon  and  it  was  not  granted. 
In  the  years  1890  and  1891  there  were  few  complaints.  It 
was  in  February,  1892,  that  a  colored  man  informed 
President  Hennighausen  that  three  men,  presumably  Ger- 
mans, were  in  the  lower  bay  on  the  oyster  schooner 
"Bertha  May,"  Captain  Mills,  unlawfully  detained  be- 
yond the  time  they  hired  for  and  badly  treated.  The 
president  lodged  complaint  in  the  name  of  the  society  be- 
fore Governor  Brown  of  the  State,  who  sent  an  oyster 
police  boat,  had  the  captain  arrested  on  his  schooner  in 
Honga  River,  brought  before  Justice  Hart,  who  fined 
him  $50  and  costs,  and  set  the  men  free.  In  December, 
1892,  the  president  being  informed  by  an  escaped  captive 


142  HISTORY  OF  THE 

named  Witzigman,  that  a  number  of  Germans  were  held 
captives  on  several  dredge  vessels,  he  induced  Governor 
Brown  to  send  one  of  the  State  police  steamers  to  their 
rescue  and  Col.  Heinrich  C.  Tieck,  as  attorney  of  the 
German  Society  of  Maryland,  with  Captain  Edward  Bid- 
dlenian,  United  States  deputy  marshal,  on  December  26th, 
1892,  left  Baltimore  on  the  State  police  stearrer  "Gov- 
ernor McLane,"  for  the  lower  bay.  The  intrepid  brave 
Colonel  Tieck  was  armed  with  nine  writs  of  habeas  corpus 
and  thirteen  warrants  issued  out  of  the  United  States 
District  Court  at  the  instance  of  the  society,  for  the  arrest 
of  the  violators  of  the  law.  It  had  been  reported  that  one 
of  the  oyster  captains  on  October  I3th,  1892,  came  to 
New  York  and  by  fair  promises  of  light  work,  good 
treatment,  board,  lodging  and  $14  a  month  wages,  hired 
thirty-two  recently  arrived  emigrants  as  oyster  dredgers 
on  the  lower  bay,  without  having  them  registered  by  a 
commissioner  as  required  by  law.  Fourteen  of  these  men 
were  Germans  and  among  these,  four  youths  who  had 
landed  in  New  York  on  the  i3th  and  on  the  I4th  of 
October  were  in  Baltimore  on  board  of  an  oyster  vessel, 
the  rest  were  of  various  nationalities.  They  were  hired 
for  the  season  ending  April  i,  1893,  with  the  understand- 
ing, that  if  they  did  not  like  the  work  they  could  leave  on 
November  ist,  1892.  On  November  ist  they  all  wanted 
to  leave,  but  were  kept  prisoners  on  board  the  several 
vessels.  Severe  winter  weather  had  set  in.  The  bay 
was  full  of  ice  and  the  rivers  frozen  over.  On  December 
29th,  the  president  received  the  following  telegram  from 
Colonel  Tieck — Chrisfield,  Md.,  December  29th,  1892: 
"Met  the  enemy.  He  is  ours;  rescued  fifteen  men  and 
made  four  arrests."  On  the  following  day  nineteen  oys- 


GERMAN  SOCIETY  OF  MARYLAND  143 

ter  dredgers  freed  by  Colonel  Tieck  and  sent  at  the  ex- 
pense of  the  society  to  Baltimore,  came  to  the  office  of 
the  president.  Their  appearance  indicated  that  they  had 
endured  great  hardship  and  privations.  The  hands  of 
the  men  presented  a  horrible  sight,  hardly  one  out  of  the 
entire  number  being  without  a  rude  bandage,  which 
covered  cuts  and  bruises. 

They  brought  the  following  report  in  writing  from 
Colonel  Tieck  to  the  president,  dated  "Steamer  Geo.  R. 
McLane,  December  29,  1892,  near  Ragged  Point,  Poto- 
mac River : 

Dear  Mr.  Hennighausen : — We  arrested  four  men  and 
freed  twelve  men,  who  will  go  per  steamer  from  Crisfield, 
if  that  port  is  not  closed  by  ice,  or  go  to  Drum  Point  on  the 
Patuxent  river  if  we  can  land  there.  We  have  had  a  hard 
time  at  Leonardtown,  St.  Mary's  county,  where  we  met  a 
whole  fleet  of  oyster  vessels.  There  we  arrested  the  cap- 
tain, we  were  especially  in  search  for,  and  placed  him  in 
the  Leonardtown  jail  to  await  the  action  of  the  U.  S.  Dis- 
trict Court.  We  seized  the  schooner  "Partnership"  whereof 
the  father  of  the  prisoner  was  in  command.  I  boarded  the 
vessel  and  was  told  by  the  crew  that  one  of  their  number,  a 
youth  of  20  years,  named  Kleber,  of  Frankfurt  a.  M.,  had 
been  hit  by  the  captain  on  his  hand  with  a  hammer  that 
the  blood  squirted  from  it,  and  so  seriously  injured  that 
in  the  following  night  he  jumped  overboard  and  was  lost. 
I  am  convinced  that  he  lies  dead  on  the  bottom  of  the  Po- 
tomac; as  no  human  being  could  live  in  the  icy  cold  water 
for  five  minutes.  This  captain  was  arrested  by  Capt.  Tur- 
ner of  the  Str.  "Govn.  McLane"  for  violating  the  State 
Oyster  Laws,  found  guilty  by  a  Justice  of  the  Peace  in 


144  HISTORY  OF  THE 

Leonardtown  and  fined  $50  and  costs.  We  freed  six  men 
of  his  crew  and  sent  them  aboard  the  "McLane."  This 
case  cost  the  Captain  $200  and  he  had  to  leave  one  of  his 
boats  as  security  in  possession  of  his  attorney  at  Leonard- 
town  for  the  payment  of  costs  and  fees  otherwise  he  would 
have  gone  to  jail  to  keep  company  with  his  son.  However, 
I  am  not  done  with  him  and  shall  continue  his  case  before 
the  U.  S.  Commissioner  Bond.  He  sailed  with  his  mate  and 
cook  and  the  mate  of  the  boat  of  his  son  for  Baltimore.  The 
mates  and  cook  are  colored.  They  were  arrested  with  the 
captain  here  but  could  not  be  held  under  the  State  laws. 
I  shall  therefore  obtain  warrants  for  their  arrest  from  the 
U.  S.  Commissioner.  I  have  directed  the  witnesses  (the 
crews  of  both  vessels)  to  your  office;  it  is  advisable  to  take 
them  before  a  U.  S.  Commissioner  to  obtain  warrants  for 
the  arrest  of  mate  Walter  Sykes,  colored,  of  the  bugeye 
"M.  E.  Dennis"  No.  155,  Capt.  Stewart  H.  Evans;  also  for 
the  mate,  Joseph  Sanders,  mulatto,  of  the  "Lucy  Gallagher" 
No.  154;  for  Andrew  Cooper,  colored,  mate  of  the  same 
vessel,  all  of  them  now  on  board  of  the  "M.  E.  Dennis", 
Capt.  Stewart  H.  Evans,  sailing  for  Baltimore.  It  is  best 
that  they  should  be  arrested  as  soon  as  they  arrive  in  the 
harbor,  for  after  they  have  landed,  these  three  devils  in 
human  form  may  escape.  The  witnesses  against  Capt.  Ed- 
ward Evans,  of  the  "Lucy  Gallagher"  No.  154,  are  Otto 
Casar,  Josef  Korzulla,  Emil  Bahn  (principal  witnesses), 
Nicolas  Margne,  Adam  Sorkal,  Jean  Blue  and  Frank 
Casper.  These  are  also  witnesses  against  the  colored  mates, 
Josef  Sanders  and  Andrew  Cooper.  The  witnesses  against 
the  colored  mate,  Walker  Sykes,  of  the  bugeye  "M.  E. 
Dennis",  are  Charles  Lenz,  Oscar  Rief,  Chas.  Muffer,  John 
Varge,  Emil  Kochler,  Ignaz  Krandanz  and  Paul  Poucani. 


GERMAN  SOCIETY  OF  MARYLAND  145 

See  to  it  that  the  Commissioner  will  hold  the  witnesses  for 
the  negroes  may  not  arrive  in  Baltimore  for  a  day  or  two. 
We  are  now  looking  for  the  schooner  "Viola"  No.  505,  and 
are  at  the  mouth  of  the  Potomac.  It  is  very  cold  and  many 
vessels  are  frozen  in.  This  morning  our  steamer  was  sur- 
rounded by  ice  and  is  now  rocking  heavily. 

When  we  told  the  poor  oyster  dredgers  that  they  were 
free  and  we  would  take  care  of  them,  the  scene  was  inde- 
scribable. They  were  overjoyed,  tears  ran  down  their 
cheeks,  they  embraced  and  kissed  each  other,  and  when  we 
asked  them  how  they  felt,  they  cried  "happy!  happy!" 

We  marched  in  procession  to  the  courthouse  in  Leonard- 
town,  the  three  colored  men  handcuffed  at  the  head,  it  cre- 
ated great  excitement,  the  better  class  of  the  inhabitants 
sympathized  with  the  poor  dredgers  and  I  heard  many 
words  of  praise  for  our  society." 

Col.  Tieck  further  reported  that  he  caused  three  minor 
boys  to  be  set  free.  In  a  later  letter  he  writes :  Since  I 
wrote  to  you  this  morning,  we  came  up  with  the  "Viola" 
and  rescued  five  men,  one  Irishman  and  four  Germans,  who 
will  appear  as  witnesses  against  the  captain,  who  together 
with  his  mate,  left  the  ice-bound  boat,  when  the  crew  had 
neither  victuals  nor  water  on  board.  The  crew  would  have 
perished  or  starved  to  death  if  we  had  not  arrived  in  time, 
as  it  was  impossible  for  them  to  reach  the  shore,  it  being 
a  mile  distant  and  the  water  covered  with  ice.  There  are 
about  150  vessels  frozen  in.  The  suffering  among  the  poor 
oyster  dredgers  must  be  terrible.  I  still  have  much  evi- 
dence of  other  cases  in  my  hands,  the  difficulty  is  that  we 
cannot  do  anything  in  Crisfield  against  the  cruel  cap- 
tains but  have  to  apply  to  the  U.  S.  Court  in  Baltimore. 
(Signed)  HEINRICH  C.  TIECK." 


146  HISTORY  OF  THE 

The  dredgers  were  taken  by  the  president  before  United 
States  Commissioner  Bond,  warrants  issued  and  the  cap- 
tains and  mates  arrested.  Colonel  Tieck  returned  on  the 
fourth  of  January,  1893,  and  on  the  fifth  there  was  a 
hearing  before  the  Commissioner  in  the  case  against  Cap- 
tain Evans,  of  the  Schooner  "Mary  EL  Dennis."  The 
German  Society  was  represented  by  L.  P.  Hennighausen, 
Col.  Wm.  F.  Brune  and  Col.  Heinrich  C.  Tieck,  attor- 
neys; the  United  States  Government  by  John  T.  Ensor, 
United  States  Attorney,  and  the  prisoners  by  the  Hon. 
Thomas  G.  Hayes.  The  testimony  showed  cruel  and 
brutal  treatment,  especially  of  the  young  man  Kleber, 
who  jumped  overboard ;  that  they  received  insufficient  or 
spoiled  food,  several  of  them  showed  bruises  where  they 
had  been  hit  by  the  captain  and  his  colored  mates.  Ignaz 
Grandaz  was  struck  by  the  captain  with  a  hammer  on  his 
nose,  and  at  another  time  the  captain  and  mate  poured  a 
bucket  full  of  cold  water  over  his  head,  for  no  cause  that 
he  knew  of.  They  were  kept  as  captives,  not  allowed  to 
go  on  shore,  etc.  The  captain  was  committed  for  court, 
tried,  found  guilty  of  cruel  treatment,  fined  and  im- 
prisoned. 

It  is  remarkable  that  on  the  2nd  of  January,  1893,  the 
"Canton  Oyster  Exchange"  passed  resolutions  of  protest 
against  Governor  Brown  for  permitting  the  State  Oyster 
Police  Steamboat  "Governor  McLane"  to  be  used  on  this 
errand  of  mercy  and  justice  in  liberating  the  poor  oyster 
dredgers  out  of  slavery. 

The  German  Society,  however,  pursued  its  even  way 
as  the  friend  of  the  poor  and  oppressed.  Every  one  of 
the  many  cruel  captains  and  mates  it  had  in  those  years 
arrested,  was  convicted,  and  those  of  them  who  wronged 


GERMAN  SOCIETY  OF  MARYLAND  147 

their  crews  out  of  their  hard  earned  wages  by  outrageous 
overcharge  for  matches,  tobacco,  boots,  oilskin  clothes, 
socks,  etc.,  were  compelled  by  libels  against  their  vessels, 
to  reduce  the  charges  to  reasonable  market  prices  and  pay 
the  heavy  costs  of  the  libel.  There  were  in  January, 
1893,  a  number  of  complaints  of  brutal  treatment  and 
horrible  suffering.  Karl  Springer  on  January  ist  com- 
plained of  the  oyster  boat  "Marsella"  No.  35.  There 
were  six  men  in  the  crew;  it  was  very  cold,  heavy  ice 
formed  on  the  water,  and  the  captain  and  mate  rowed 
ashore  and  left  thiem  five  days  without  a  drop  of  water  or 
wood  to  make  a  fire,  when  the  ice  had  frozen  to  the  thick- 
ness to  bear  a  man,  they  escaped  over  the  ice,  on  reaching 
shore  they  were  pursued  and  fled  for  their  lives.  This 
Happened  in  Virginia  water  out  of  the  jurisdiction  of 
Maryland. 

On  the  6th  of  January,  Fritz  Bauer  of  the  boat  "Jose- 
phine Smith"  escaped.  He  related  an  even  more  horrible 
experience. 

Henry  French,  24  years  old,  from  New  Orleans,  a  son 
of  A.  B.  French,  of  A.  B.  French  &  Co.,  exporters  of 
heavy  lumber,  was  shanghied  and  escaped  after  fifteen 
days  on  board  by  swimming  ashore  on  Sunday  night. 
Five  Germans  escaped  from  the  schooner  "Sumner," 
Capt.  Charles  Light,  of  Accomac  county,  Virginia,  re- 
ported atrocious  cruel  treatment.  They  had  suffered, 
and  stated  that  a  German  on  the  schooner  "Boggs"  at 
anchor  near  the  "Sumner"  was  by  the  captain  or  mate  of 
the  vessel  kicked  to  death  and  his  body  butied  on  the 
shore. 

The  reports  of  cruelties  and  murders  were  so  frequent 
in  1893  that  the  other  charity  societies  of  the  city,  the 


148  HISTORY  OF  THE 

Charity  Organization,  St.  Andrew's  Society,  Hibernian, 
St.  George's  Society  and  French  Society  united  with  the 
German  Society  to  form  a  bureau  for  the  protection  of 
the  oyster  dredgers,  and  opened  headquarters  at  210 
South  Charles  street.  L.  P.  Hennighausen  of  the  Ger- 
man Society,  was  elected  president;  Alexander  H.  Rob- 
ertson of  the  St.  Andrew's  Society,  secretary;  Major  O. 
H.  Horton  of  St.  George's  Society,  treasurer;  Patrick 
Reilly  of  the  Hibernian  Society,  William  H.  Perkins  of 
French  Benevolent  Society,  and  John  Glenn  of  the 
Charity  Organization  Society,  committee.  Col.  Heinrich 
C.  Tieck  was  retained  as  counsel  for  the  bureau.  Large 
placards  were  ordered  to  be  printed  to  be  hung  in  the 
shipping  offices,  and  smaller  ones  distributed  among 
dredgers,  calling  attention  to  the  purpose  of  the  bureau, 
and  advising  the  filing  of  all  just  complaints  for  any  kind 
of  unlawful  treatment  with  it.  This  had  a  good  effect, 
and  less  cases  for  non-payment  of  wages  or  cruel  treat- 
ment were  noted  and  tried  in  courts. 

The  oyster  captains,  packers  and  industry  in  sympathy 
with  them,  fretted  under  the  restrictions  of  the  register 
laws  of  1888,  which  impaired  and  hindered  them  in  their 
greed  for  large  profits  at  the  expense  of  the  poor  dred- 
gers and  having  more  political  influence  in  the  counties, 
than  the  charity  organizations  of  the  city,  were  active  for 
the  repeal  of  those  laws.  At  the  meeting  of  the  society 
of  April  29,  1895,  F.  W.  Brune,  Esq.,  the  counsellor  re- 
ported that  by  an  act  proposed  by  the  legislature  of  Mary- 
land at  the  last  session  on  the  29th  of  April,  1894,  Chap- 
ter 379,  the  laws  for  the  protection  of  oyster  dredgers  in 
the  Chesapeake  Bay  had  been  so  amended  as  to  defeat  to 
some  extent  the  object  in  the  protection  of  oyster 


GERMAN  SOCIETY  OF  MARYLAND  149 

dredgers,  and  that  by  the  enacting  clause  of  the  next 
Chapter  No.  380  the  entire  law  so  far  as  it  related  to  the 
protection  of  oyster  dredgers  had  been  repealed.  This 
was  a  great  surprise  and  a  severe  blow  to  the  efforts  of 
the  society.  Not  a  line  had  been  published  in  the  daily 
papers  of  the  effect  of  these  chapters,  and  its  officers  were 
in  complete  ignorance  of  the  repeal  during  the  session  of 
the  legislature.  Dispairing  of  a  remedy  of  the  evil  from 
the  hands  of  the  State,  the  charity  organizations  now  ap- 
pealed to  the  Congress  of  the  United  States  to  have  the 
strong  arm  of  the  Federal  Government  invoked  for  the 
protection  of  the  oyster  dredgers  about  the  same  as  it  ex- 
tended to  sailors,  especially  in  securing  their  wages.  A 
bill  No.  383  to  prohibit  shang*haing  and  peonage  in  the 
United  States,  etc.,  under  severe  penalties,  was  intro- 
duced in  the  House  of  Representatives  by  Mr.  Moerel,  of 
Pennsylvania,  and  referred  to  a  committee  who  gave  a 
public  hearing  on  February  2nd,  1906.  There  appeared 
before  the  committee  in  favor  of  the  passage  of  the  bill, 
representatives  of  the  four  Baltimore  charity  societies, 
the  American  Seaman's  Friend  Society  of  New  York, 
the  Local  Seaman's  Society  of  New  York,  the  Virginia 
Mariner's  Friend  of  Newport  News,  Virginia,  the  Legal 
Aid  Society  of  New  York,  the  Protestant-Episcopal  Sea- 
man's Society,  the  Seaman's  Christian  Association  and 
the  Legal  Aid  Society  of  Philadelphia.  John  C.  Rose, 
United  States  District  Attorney  of  Baltimore,  took  deep 
interest  in  the  passage  of  the  bill,  also  appeared  and  gave 
a  graphic  description  of  his  seven  years'  experience  in  the 
trials  of  oyster  captains,  etc.,  and  assisted  in  amending 
the  bill  to  make  it  more  effective  in  the  protection  of  oys- 
ter dredgers.  Statements  of  the  grievances  were  made 


150  HISTORY  OF  THE 

by  the  representatives  of  the  several  societies,  the  per- 
sistent valiant  fight  of  the  German  Society  of  Maryland 
in  behalf  of  the  oyster  dredgers  was  often  alluded  to.  A 
number  of  letters,  from  prominent  citizens,  among  them 
Bishop  O.  A.  Whitaker  of  the  Diocese  of  Pennsylvania, 
Co-adjutor  Bishop  Alex.  Mackay  Smith,  R.  S.  J.  Ran- 
dolph, E.  W.  and  Mrs.  R.  R.  Bradford,  Philip  E.  How- 
ard, John  B.  McPherson,  Charles  C.  Binney  and  others 
\v  ere  read.  It  was  shown  by  these  letters  and  by  the  rep- 
resentatives of  the  New  York,  Philadelphia  and  Balti- 
more societies  that  the  practice  of  shanghaing  was  very 
prevalent  in  these  cities,  in  the  manner  in  which  men  were 
lured  to  Maryland  by  promise  of  well-paid  work,  and 
then,  usually  stupefied  by  the  influence  of  liquor  or  drugs, 
or  by  deception  or  by  brute  violence,  were  put  on  board 
of  oyster  boats  and  kept  there  as  practical  slaves  for 
weeks  and  months  without  proper  food  or  accommoda- 
tions and  without  any  certainty  as  to  their  pay  or  time  of 
discharge.  United  States  District  Attorney  John  C. 
Rose  stated : 

"The  one  curious  result  of  all  the  cases  that  come  before 
us  is  that  I  have  never  met  any  of  them  who  had  ever 
been  paid  for  a  day,  no  matter  how  long  he  had  worked.''' 
The  bill  prescribed  a  punishment  for  any  person,  being 
of  the  crew  or  ships  company  of  any  vessel  engaged  in 
the  oyster  trade,  etc.,  shall  ship  any  person  while  in  a 
state  of  intoxication,  or  while  laboring  under  any  false 
impression,  and  shall  thereupon  forcibly  confine  or  detain 
such  person  on  board  of  such  vessel  with  intent  to  make 
such  person  a  slave  or  compel  him  to  perform  involuntary 
service  of  any  kind,  and  every  person  who  shall  in  any 
way  aid  or  abet  such  action,  shall  be  guilty  of  felony  and 


GERMAN  SOCIETY  OF  MARYLAND  151 

shall  be  punished  by  imprisonment  not  exceeding  ten 
years,  etc. 

Mr.  Moerel  accepted  the  suggestions  of  the  District 
Attorney,  John  C.  Rose,  and  re-drafted  the  bill,  which 
was  adopted  by  Congress  and  is  now  law.  Mr.  Rose  at 
the  next  session  of  Congress  had  further  acts  passed  for 
the  better  protection  of  oyster  dredgers,  and  as  far  as 
laws  can  do  it  the  oyster  dredger  now  enjoys  full  protec- 
tion. A  large  share  of  the  credit  for  this  noble  achieve- 
ment is  no  doubt  due  to  the  German  Society  of  Maryland, 
who  took  the  initiative,  and  with  energy  and  persistency 
continued  at  large  expense  for  many  years  the  humane 
effort  to  obtain  good  effective  laws  for  the  protection  of 
the  oyster  dredgers.  We  now  return  to  the  ordinary 
routine  work  of  the  society.  The  temporary  evils  of  the 
redemptioner  system  and  oyster  dredger  slavery  had  been 
met  and  disposed  of,  but  as  it  is  said,  "the  poor  shall 
always  be  with  you,"  and  among  them  the  poor  ividoiv 
with  infant  children  admits  of  no  doubt  in  the  application 
for  charity.  The  money  the  society  had  spent  in  the  good 
work  of  protecting  honest,  hard-working  men  aroused 
the  higher  nobler  sentiments  of  helping  those  in  want  of 
the  necessities  of  life  and  to  intrust  the  German  Society 
vith  larger  sums  of  money  for  practical  dispensation 
among  the  poor  of  our  city.  In  the  years  1893-1894  one 
of  those  periodical  crisis  or  panics  in  the  industrial  life 
of  our  country  set  in.  Factories  closed  or  worked  with 
diminished  half  force,  house-building  was  at  a  stand- 
still, banks  closed,  many  thousands  of  mechanics  and 
workmen  were  out  of  employment  and  unusual  heavy  de- 
mands of  those  who  were  in  need  without  any  fault  of 
their  own  were  made  upon  the  society.  It  was  then  that 


152  HISTORY  OF  THE 

our  vice-president,  George  W.  Gail,  generously  raised  his 
annual  dues  to  $300  a  year,  payable  in  monthly  instal- 
ments of  $25  a  month,  to  be  distributed  to  five  families 
to  be  selected  by  the  executive  committee ;  the  workmen 
of  Gail  &  Ax  factory  contributed  $200;  Anne  Catherine 
Denhardt  gave  a  legacy  of  $1,093.18;  Mrs.  Nannie  Ax, 
$99;  Unkel  Brasig  Verein,  $25;  A.  C.  Meyer,  $20; 
Ladies'  Bazaar,  $614.54;  Mrs.  Nannie  Ax.  $132:  Fred- 
trick  Schepeler,  $1,000,  and  some  members  raised  their 
annual  dues  to  $10,  $20  and  $25.  The  society  in  the 
crisis  of  1893-94  distributed  directly  among  the  poor 
$12,911.25  in  cash.  The  largest  distribution  by  it  ever 
made,  it  was  among  85  widows  with  314  children,  3.,. 
widows  without  children,  78  families  with  298  children, 
31  couples  without  children  and  28  men,  and  mostly 
given  in  monthly  payments.  The  employment  office  pro- 
cured positions  for  342  farm  hands,  20  mechanics  and  3  r 
servant  girls. 

At  the  meeting  of  October  8,  1894,  Mr.  Charles  Weber, 
Jr.,  the  treasurer,  reported  that  the  old  record  book  of 
the  society,  covering  the  period  beginning  with  the  re- 
organization of  the  society,  February  3,  1817,  at  the 
meeting  held  in  Kaminsky's  tavern  and  ending  with  the 
quarterly  meeting  of  the  society,  held  in  one  of  the  rooms 
of  the  Germania  Club  October  22,  1860,  had  been  placed 
in  care  of  the  secretary  of  the  society  with  instruction  for 
safety  against  loss  by  fire,  etc.,  to  keep  it  in  one  of  the 
vaults  of  the  Hopkins  Place  Savings  Bank.  Ten  years 
thereafter  the  great  fire  which  consumed  even  the  metal 
in  the  bank  destroyed  the  book.  On  January  30,  1893, 
Frederick  Schad  resigned  as  agent  and  Mr.  John  D. 
Meyer  was  unanimously  elected  in  his  place  at  a  salary 


GEORGE   W.  GAIL 


GERMAN  SOCIETY  OF  MARYLAND  153 

of  $60  a  month,  which  later  was  increased  to  $1,000  a 
year.  During  a  sickness  of  the  attorney,  Colonel  Tieck, 
Alexander  H.  Robertson,  Esq.,  acting  for  Colonel  Tieck, 
m  the  name  of  the  society  succeeded  in  recovering  for 
three  German  cattle  shippers  $70  for  their  return  fare 
from  Liverpool  to  Baltimore. 

In  the  spring  of  1894  a  number  of  German-American 
ladies  formed  a  temporary  organization  and  held  a  fair 
or  bazaar  in  the  first  week  of  May  at  the  Germania  Maen- 
nerchor  Hall,  which  netted  the  sum  of  $1,114.51.  Six 
hundred  and  fourteen  dollars  and  fifty-one  cents  whereof 
were  paid  as  a  donation  to  the  society  by  Mr.  Rother, 
Avho  acted  as  treasurer  of  the  bazaar.  The  balance  of 
$500  was  paid  to  "the  Maryland  General  Hospital"  in 
consideration  of  which  the  managers  of  the  hospital 
agreed  to  establish  and  maintain  in  perpetuity  one  free 
bed,  to  be  known  as  "the  German  Society  Free  Bed,"  for 
the  accommodation  of  such  persons  as  shall  be  recom- 
mended from  time  to  time  by  "the  president  of  the  Ger- 
man Society  of  Maryland,"  or  his  legal  representatives, 
for  medical  or  surgical  treatment.  This  free  bed  with 
medical  treatment  has  been  and  still  is  a  great  blessing  to 
many  poor  women  and  men,  who  could  not  gain  admit- 
tance to  other  hospitals  of  the  city  and  in  need  of  surgical 
or  medical  treatment.  The  kind  and  remarkable  success- 
ful treatment  they  received  at  the  hospital  induced  the 
society  in  the  year  1902  to  add  another  $500  donation  to 
the  hospital.  The  ladies  who  founded  the  free  bed  never 
did  a  more  far-reaching  act  of  beneficent  charity.  The 
applicant  for  this  charity  is  first  examined  by  the  agent 
of  the  society  as  to  his  means,  then  by  the  physician  of 
the  society  whether  he  needs  hospital  treatment,  and  then 


154  HISTORY  OF  THE 

recommended  by  the  president  of  the  society  to  admission 
in  the  hospital.  Experience  has  shown  that  even  hospi- 
tals are  sometimes  imposed  upon  by  frauds  well  able  to 
pay  for  their  treatment. 

An  invitation  from  the  German  Society  of  Pennsyl- 
vania to  attend  the  banquet  to  be  held  in  Philadelphia, 
December  26,  1894,  to  celebrate  the  one  hundred  and 
thirtieth  anniversary  of  its  existence  was  received  and 
accepted.  Messrs.  L.  P.  Hennighausen,  Jacob  Klein  and 
Robert  M.  Rother  were  elected  a  delegation  to  represent 
the  Maryland  Society  on  the  occasion. 

The  suffering  and  hardship  of  the  foreign  oyster 
dredger  continued  to  engage  the  attention  and  time  cf 
the  officers,  especially  of  F.  W.  Brune,  H.  C.  Tieck  and 
Oscar  Wolff,  the  attorneys  of  the  society,  the  secretary 
being  instructed  to  keep  the  society  in  communication 
with  the  other  societies  in  this  matter. 

A  proposition  in  1897  from  the  Gennan  Branch  of  the 
Young  Men's  Christian  Association  of  Baltimore  for  the 
German  Society  to  acquire  the  hall  and  building  at  No. 
1015  and  1017  East  Baltimore  street  for  the  sum  of 
814,000  for  a  joint  home  was  referred  to  a  committee  for 
a  full  investigation  and  consideration.  The  committee 
reported  unfavorable  and  the  report  was  adopted.  The 
society  in  those  years  had  been  often  invited  to  join  in 
social,  benevolent,  political  and  other  affairs  and  alway.s 
declined,  believing  in  the  singleness  of  purpose  as  ex- 
pressed in  its  charter  the  only  safe  conduct. 

In  February,  1899,  the  society  elected  the  Hon.  Karl 
Schurz  an  honorary  member  and  sent  him  a  letter  of  con- 
gratulation upon  the  anniversary  of  his  seventieth  birth- 
day. 


GERMAN  SOCIETY  OF  MARYLAND  155 

In  1895  tne  society  received  large  donations  from 
philanthropists  who  were  not  inhabitants  of  the  United 
States.  Mr.  Friedrich  Schepeler,  a  resident  of  Mfinden, 
Hanover,  Germany,  had  been  a  resident  of  Baltimore  and 
a  member  of  the  German  Society  from  1846  to  1869, 
when  he  returned  to  Germany.  In  the  month  of  August, 
1894,  a  number  of  "the  Baltimore  Wecker,"  a  weekly 
German  newspaper,  containing  an  interesting  historical 
sketch  of  the  German  Society  of  Maryland  and  of  its 
recent  activity,  came  to  his  hands  and  he  called  to  his 
memory  the  meritorious  humane  work  of  the  society. 
He,  therefore,  with  'his  wishes  for  the  continuance  of  the 
good  work  of  the  society,  sent  a  donation  of  $1,000. 

Mr.  August  Marquardt,  a  German  merchant  of  Bremen, 
sojourning  in  the  month  of  October,  1895,  in  our  city, 
on  being  informed  by  H.  G.  Hilken  of  the  good  work  of 
cur  society,  sent  a  donation  of  $250.  Both  donations 
came  through  the  house  of  "A.  Schumacher  &  Company," 
the  old  steadfast  friend  of  the  society. 

In  the  meeting  of  April  12,  1897,  the  president  reported 
that  not  one  case  of  serious  complaint  of  cruelty  or  other 
bad  treatment  of  oyster  dredgers  had  been  reported  in 
the  past  winter,  and  that  it  was  the  voluntary  expressed 
opinion  of  the  United  States  commissioners  and  other 
officers  connected  with  maritime  jurisdiction  that  this  was 
due  entirely  to  the  former  vigorous  efforts  of  the  society 
in  extending  protection  to  the  men  by  bringing  the  offend- 
ing captains  of  oyster  dredging  boats  to  justice  and  pun- 
ishment. Several  cases  of  withholding  wages  from 
dredgers  were  prosecuted  and  settled  in  the  season  of 
1898,  but  no  case  of  cruel  treatment  reported.  In  1898 
relief  was  extended  by  the  society  to  343  adults  and  669 


156  HISTORY  OF  THE 

children.  At  the  meeting  of  April  10,  1899,  the  death 
of  Col.  F.  W.  Brune,  one  of  the  counsellors  of  the  society, 
was  announced.  He  at  great  sacrifice  of  time  and  money 
had  rendered  great  services  for  twenty-one  years  in  fight- 
ing for  the  poor  and  oppressed.  His  grandfather  was 
one  of  the  charter  members,  and  his  father,  William  F. 
Brune,  held  the  office  of  counsellor  of  the  society  for  more 
than  thirty  years,  until  his  death  in  1879.  Both  were 
eminent  attorneys-at-law. 

At  the  October  meeting  of  1899  it  was  resolved  that  a 
committee  of  three  be  appointed  by  the  president,  wh} 
shall  petition  the  next  State  legislature  to  have  the  report 
of  the  Labor  Statistician  translated  into  German  and 
printed  in  pamphlet  form  for  distribution  among  German 
emigrants.  The  president  appointed  Messrs.  Ferdinand 
C.  Latrobe,  George  W.  Gail  and  Rev.  Edward  Huber  on 
the  committee. 

At  the  end  of  the  year  1902  the  membership  by  death, 
removal  from  the  city  and  resignation  having  been  ma- 
terially reduced,  Mr.  Gustav  Siegmund,  Robert  M. 
Rother,  L.  P.  Hennighausen,  Ernst  Schmeisser  and  other 
members  made  an  effort  to  regain  the  loss,  and  on  Janu- 
ary 12,  1903,  nominated  forty- four  candidates  as  mem- 
bers. 

In  October,  1904,  Mr.  Ernst  Sander,  a  citizen  of  Leip- 
zig, Germany,  sent  a  donation  of  Mk.  200  and  was  there  - 
upon  elected  a  member  for  life  of  the  society,  but  he  wrote 
for  leave  to  become  a  regular  member,  and  was  unani- 
mously elected,  and  has  since  paid  his  dues  by  draft 
punctually  ahead  of  the  time  when  due.  The  society 
suffered  severe  loss  during  the  next  following  years  by 
the  death  of  a  number  of  highly  esteemed,  faithful  oli 


GERMAN  SOCIETY  OF  MARYLAND  157 

officers  and  benefactors  and  many  kind  words  of  sorrow, 
praise  and  eulogy  to  their  memory  are  noted  in  the  record 
book  of  the  society. 

At  the  yearly  meeting,  January  n,  1904,  the  president 
announced  the  recent  death  of  the  former  president  and 
late  vice-president,  Mr.  Claas  Vocke.  In  1842  he  was 
elected  secretary  and  for  sixty-three  years  he  continued 
to  hold  offices  of  trust  and  honor  in  the  gift  of  the  mem- 
bers of  the  society. 

On  April  n,  1904,  the  death  of  George  Brehm  was 
announced;  a  generous  member  and  contributor  of  large 
sums  annually  to  the  society. 

On  October  16,  1905,  on  the  death  of  Vice- President 
George  William  Gail,  a  special  meeting  was  held  by  the 
officers  and  resolutions  deploring  his  loss,  etc.,  passed. 
Mr.  Gail  was  not  only  the  most  liberal  contributor,  but 
also  a  very  active  officer  and  member.  He  was  vice- 
president  from  1892  to  the  time  of  his  death,  and  remem- 
bered the  society  with  a  legacy  of  $2,000. 

In  the  following  year,  1906,  Mr.  C.  W.  Schneidereith, 
since  1893  second  vice-president,  and  the  four  esteemed 
and  active  managers.  Professor  Otto  Fuchs,  Rev.  Ed- 
\\ard  Huber,  Captain  Henry  Steffens  and  Captain  Daniel 
Steenken,  each  of  them  after  many  years  of  faithful  serv- 
ice in  their  office,  departed  this  life. 

In  1906  Mr.  Ed.  Nieman,  a  retired  merchant,  for  many 
years  a  member  and  from  1879  to  1890  treasurer  of  the 
society,  died  in  Germany.  Although  a  resident  of  Ger- 
many since  1890,  he  remained  a  steadfast  member  and 
in  his  last  will  gave  the  society  a  legacy  of  $2,500  and  a 
share  of  the  residue  of  his  estate  after  the  life  estate  of 
certain  devisees  had  expired. 


158  HISTORY  OF  THE 

In  1907,  Mr.  Henry  Lautz,  vice-president,  elected  as 
successor  of  Mr.  George  W.  Gail,  deceased,  and  a  gener- 
ous contributor,  departed  this  life  much  lamented,  remem- 
bering the  society  with  a  legacy  of  $1,000. 

On  the  3Oth  day  of  June,  1908,  the  society  suffered 
another  heavy  loss  in  the  death  of  its  treasurer,  Mr. 
Charles  Weber,  Jr.  Mr.  Weber  retired  from  active  busi- 
ness about  or  before  the  time  he  was  elected  treasurer  in 
1890,  and  devoted  most  of  his  time  to  works  of  charity 
and  therein  especially  to  the  care  of  the  orphans  and 
widows  supported  by  the  society,  he  also  took  an  active 
part  in  the  protection  of  the  oyster  dredgers.  A  special 
meeting  of  the  board  of  officers  was  held.  Appropriate 
resolutions  deploring  his  death  passed  and  Robert  M. 
Rother  elected  temporary  successor  as  treasurer. 

The  bureau  or  office  of  the  society  was  removed  in 
1906  from  No.  219  South  Sharp  street  to  the  more  con- 
venient location  of  215  and  217  Courtland  street,  Mr. 
Samuel  Siegael,  a  liberal  contributor  to  the  society,  is 
the  owner  of  the  building  and  in  his  generous  character, 
it  being  for  charity,  he  let  the  office  on  the  first  floor  with 
heating,  cleaning,  gas,  etc.,  at  the  almost  nominal  rent  of 
eight  dollars  a  month. 


ROBERT    M.    ROTHER 


GERMAN  SOCIETY  OF  MARYLAND  159 


THE  EXECUTIVE  COMMITTEE. 

Too  much  praise  cannot  be  bestowed  on  the  executive 
committee.  The  work  of  the  committee  requires  experi- 
ence, patience,  sound  judgment  and  true  disposition  of 
charity  and  benevolence.  Every  person  who  is  or  has 
been  active  in  the  work  of  charity  knows  that  imposition, 
knavery,  deceit  and  fraud  is  largely  practiced  by  persons, 
not  in  need  or  too  lazy  to  work,  to  obtain  gifts  of  charity. 
It  is  sweet  to  obtain  money  without  working  for  it.  It  is 
the  duty  of  the  executive  committee  to  carefully  examine 
and  investigate  every  application  for  charity,  so  that  not 
a  dollar  of  the  society  is  wasted  on  unworthy  persons,  the 
committee  in  its  discretion  orders  victuals,  groceries, 
wood,  coal  or  cash  to  be  given  by  the  agent  to  the  appli- 
cant, by  an  order  on  the  treasurer.  Messrs.  Robert  M. 
Rother,  A.  C.  Meyer  and  Charles  Weber,  Jr.,  have  since 
February  loth,  1890,  performed  the  arduous  delicate 
duties  as  executive  committee  with  the  approval  of  the  so- 
ciety. On  the  death  of  Mr.  Weber,  Mr.  Herman  Baden- 
hoop  was  appointed  to  fill  his  unexpired  term.  At  the 
yearly  meeting  January  nth,  1909,  Mr.  Badenhoop,  for 
business  reasons,  declined  the  office,  and  John  Hinricks 
was  in  his  place  appointed  a  member  of  the  executive 
committee.  Since  Mr.  Rother  is  chairman  and  to  the 
year  1909,  the  executive  committee  has  approved  and  is- 
sued 30,851  orders  on  the  treasurer,  for,  and  the  treas- 
urer thereon  has  paid,  by  the  agent  $89,851.17  to  worthy 
poor  persons  in  need,  largely  to  poor  widows  with  infant 
children;  it  is  a  pleasure  to  record,  that  with  this  aid 


160  HISTORY  OF  THE 

from  the  society,  the  children  remained  with  their 
mothers,  and  have  grown  up  to  good  and  useful  citizens. 
We  must  not  publish  names  and  numbers,  the  books  are 
open  to  members  for  verification. 


GERMAN  SOCIETY  OF  MARYLAND  161 


BANQUETS. 

The  social  feature  of  a  dinner  at  the  annual  meeting  of 
the  society  appears  to  have  been  successfully  established 
by  the  great  banquet  held  on  the  26th  day  of  December, 
1817,  before  the  incorporation  of  the  society,  at  Kamin- 
sky's  Hotel  on  Water  street;  in  1820,  at  Mrs.  Wintklos' 
Hotel  on  Water  street,  at  twelve  o'clock  noon;  in  1821, 
at  Williamson's  Hotel,  thereafter  and  for  many  years  at 
the  Indian  Queen  Hotel,  called  Beltzhoover  Hotel,  south- 
east corner  of  Baltimore  and  Hanover  streets,  until  1832, 
when  Beltzhoover  removed  to  the  Fountain  Hotel  on 
Light  near  Baltimore  street,  where  the  society  then  mel:. 
After  the  Eutaw  House  was  opened  the  society  under 
President  Schumacher  often  held  the  banquets  in  its 
spacious  rooms  later  and  until  the  present  time  at  the 
rooms  of  the  Germania  Club  Under  the  presidency  of 
Mr.  Claas  Vocke  the  annual  banquet  was  suspended  four 
years,  but  it  was  to  the  detriment  of  the  popularity  in 
membership,  which  then  diminished  to  its  lowest  number. 
After  due  consideration,  it  was  resolved  under  President 
Hennighausen  to  continue  the  annual  banquet  and  many 
members  have  since  been  gained  and  enlisted  in  the  cause 
of  charity  at  these  social  gatherings,  where  always  cheer- 
ful, even  happy  hours  were  spent.  The  consciousness  of 
feeling  that  you  were  among  men  of  generous,  benevo- 
lent hearts,  gentlemen  by  their  very  nature,  so  that  not  a 
word  of  discord  ever  marred  these  meetings,  and  they 
are  looked  forward  to  by  former  participants  with  antici- 
pation of  having  a  good  time.  Every  participant  pays 


1 62  HISTORY  OF  THE 

for  the  dinner  a  moderate  sum  and  orders  whatever  wine 
or  mineral  water  he  desires,  at  his  own  cost.  The  wines 
cut  of  the  cellars  of  the  club,  noted  for  their  quality  and 
purity  are  furnished  at  a  reasonable  price. 

The  entertainments  begin  with  remarks  by  the  presi- 
dent referring  to  the  good  work  of  the  society  during  the 
past  year  in  helping  the  poor,  assisting  widows  and  or- 
phans, procuring  work  for  the  unemployed,  fighting  for 
the  oppressed  and  reminding  his  hearers  of  the  grand 
history  of  the  society  since  its  organization.  Good 
music,  by  select  musicians,  German  and  English  choruses, 
fine  vocal  and  instrumental  solos,  intersperse  the  evening. 
The  toasts  are  few,  the  Society,  the  United  States  of 
America,  Our  Old  Fatherland,  State  of  Maryland,  City 
of  Baltimore  and  Our  Sister  Societies,  is  the  usual  pro- 
gram. One  of  the  most  pleasant  features  of  these  ban- 
quets is  the  presence  of  the  invited  representatives  of  the 
Hibernian,  the  St.  George's  and  the  St.  Andrew's  So- 
cieties of  Baltimore,  representing  respectively  the  Irish, 
English  and  Scotch  nationalities.  It  is  a  time-honored 
custom  from  the  earliest  years  of  these  societies,  to  be 
present  at  each  others  annual  meetings  and  engenders  a 
good  fellowship  and  mutual  esteem  among  the  nationali- 
ties they  represent,  which  cannot  be  valued  too  highly  in 
our  community.  Whoever  has  attended  these  banquets 
will  remember  with  pleasure  the  eloquent  words  of  sym- 
pathy and  praise  spoken  by  these  gentlemen,  which  made 
us  feel  akin  in  noble  sentiment  and  action  in  the  field  of 
charity.  Our  member,  and  always  especially  invited 
guest,  ex-Mayor  Ferdinand  C.  Latrobe,  has  for  more  tha  i 
twenty  years,  never  failed  to  be  present  and  by  eloquent 
speech  manifested  his  warm  attachment  to  the  society  and 


GERMAN  SOCIETY  OF  MARYLAND  163 

his  friends,  that  is  to  all  the  members  thereof.  The  mayor 
of  the  city  and  the  governor  of  the  State,  when  their 
duties  permit  them,  are  also  honored  and  welcome  guests. 
Short  speeches,  German  and  English  spoken  indiscrimi- 
nately, popular  songs  are  sung  ad  libitum,  old  friends  re- 
new their  acquaintances  and  good  cheer  prevails  to  the 
end.  The  climax  of  these  banquets  was  the  one  hun- 
dred and  twenty-fifth  anniversary  of  the  first  organiza- 
tion of  the  society,  held  at  the  rooms  of  the  German ia 
Club  on  the  eighth  day  of  January,  1909.  Descendants 
of  the  founders  and  of  the  deceased  members  of  the  so- 
ciety were  invited  to  participate.  The  rooms  were  filled 
to  their  seating  capacity.  The  governor  of  the  State, 
Austin  L.  Crothers;  the  mayor  of  the  city,  J.  Barry 
Mahool ;  Dr.  J.  C.  Hexamer,  the  president  of  the  German 
Society  of  Pennsylvania;  Honorable  Richard  Barthold, 
member  of  congress  from  St.  Louis,  Missouri ;  William 
P.  Ryan,  president  of  the  Hibernian  Society ;  Dr.  George 
A.  Fleming,  vice-president  of  St.  George's  Society ;  B.  P. 
Gillespie,  vice-president  St.  Andrew's  Society;  Ferdinand 
C.  Latrobe  and  the  most  prominent  citizens  of  German 
descent  and  birth  were  present.  After  some  introductory 
remarks  by  President  Louis  P.  Hennighausen,  Mr.  Rob- 
ert M.  Rother  acted  as  toastmaster  and  called  upon  the 
Hon.  Charles  E.  Heuisler,  a  judge  of  the  Supreme  Bench 
of  Baltimore,  to  respond  to  the  toast,  'The  German  So- 
ciety." Judge  Heuisler  gave  an  interesting  address  on 
the  history  of  the  society,  closing  with  a  brilliant 
panegyric  of  the  founders  and  members  of  past  genera- 
tions. The  second  toast,  "Our  New  Fatherland,"  was 
responded  to  by  the  eloquent  orator,  Hon.  Richard  Bar- 
thold in  the  German  language.  "The  Old  Fatherland." 


164  HISTORY  OF  THE 

responded  to  by  Mr.  Henry  Ruhstrat,  the  representative 
of  the  German  consul,  who  was  absent  in  Germany,  ia 
fitting-  words,  was  loudly  applauded.  Governor  Crothers 
responded  for  the  "State  of  Maryland"  and  Mayor  Ma- 
hool  for  "The  City  of  Baltimore."  Dr.  Charles  E.  Hexa- 
roer  made  a  stirring-  address  in  response  to  the  toast  of 
"Our  Guests."  The  representatives  of  our  sister  societies 
spoke  well  in  cheerful  words,  especially  our  old  friend, 
William  P.  Ryan,  of  the  'Hibernian,  who  so  often  has 
delighted  us  by  'his  masterful  sweet  diction  and  historic 
lore  of  the  early  intercourse  between  the  Irish  and  Ger- 
mans and  their  common  bonds.  The  banquet,  which 
was  in  every  way  a  great  success,  ended  by  singing : 

Should  Auld  Acquaintance  Be  Forgot,  etc. 


GERMAN  SOCIETY  OF  MARYLAND  165 

REPORT   OF  THE  TREASURER  OF  THE  SOCIETY. 

MR.  ROBERT  M.  ROTHER. 
JANUARY,  1909. 

Balance,  January  1st,  1908 $2,076.25 

RECEIPTS. 

Ground    rents $3,601.08 

Donations 162.00 

Bequests 1,100.00 

Members'    dues 1,580.00 

Interest 35.62 

6,478.70 


$8,554-95 
DISBURSEMENTS. 

Cash  assistance  for  1563  orders $5,639.60 

Office  Rent  and  Expenses 217.15 


V  153-35 


Printing   and    Stationery 

Salary  of  Agent 1,000.00 

Fee  to  Agent  for  collecting  members'  dues 79.00 

Sundries 15-34 

Invested  in  ground  rent 950.00 

8,054.34 


Balance,  January  1st,  1909 $  500.61 

INVESTMENTS  OF  THE  SOCIETY. 
Irredeemable  ground  rents,  $2,121.08  per  year. 
Ground  rents  redeemable,  at  4%,  $930.00  per  year. 
Ground  rents  redeemable,  at  6%,  $570.00  per  year. 

ROBERT  M.  ROTHER,  Treasurer. 

The  undersigned  have  carefully  examined  the  books  and  vouchers 
of  the  Treasurer  and  of  the  Agent  of  the  German  Society  of  Mary- 
land and  also  the  securities  as  stated  above  and  found  the  same  cor- 
rect. 

GEORGE  BUCHHEISTER, 

L.  H.  WIEMAN,  L     Auditing   Committee. 

A.    OBST. 
January  22,  1909. 


1 66  HISTORY  OF  THE 


FROM  THE  REPORT  OF  THE  AGENT  OF  THE  SOCIETY, 

MR.  JOHN  D.  MEYER. 

The  payments  for  relief  to  the  poor  were  made  in  the  following 
manner: 

January    on  133  orders $469.60 

February    "  136  "      492-35 

March    "  130  "      461.50 

April    "  130  "      468.50 

May    "  130  "      451-50 

June    "  126  "      445-50 

July    "  129  "      446-50 

August    "  127  "      457-50 

September    "  123  "      447.00 

October    "  131  "      477-90 

November    "  134  "      494-25 

December    "  134  "      522.50 


1563  $5,63460 

Included  in  the  above  are  208  orders  for  groceries  and 
provisions,  47  for  coal  and  wood,  2  for  shoes,  for  i  fare  to 
Germany,  5  for  fare  to  Philadelphia,  I  for  fare  to  Wash- 
ington. 

Relief  was  extended  to  30  families  with  116  children, 
and  129  widows  with  522  children;  12  married  couples  and 
12  widows  without  children,  and  25  men;  in  all  250  adults 
and  638  children. 

64  new  applications  for  relief  were  made  at  our  office, 
all  of  which  were  carefully  investigated  and  considered  by 
our  Executive  Committee.  In  i  case  false  address  was 
given  and  the  parties  could  not  be  found ;  in  3  cases  it  was 
found  that  the  applicants  were  not  entitled  to  our  assist- 


GERMAN  SOCIETY  OF  MARYLAND  167 

ance,  and  in  60  cases  relief  was  given  according  to  the  needs 
of  the  applicant  as  far  as  our  means  would  permit. 

330  visits  were  made  during  the  year  to  parties  whom 
we  regularly  assist,  and  in  14  of  these  cases  assistance  was 
discontinued;  8  of  our  regular  pensioners  died. 

A  number  of  men  seeking  employment  were  referred  to 
persons  who  applied  for  help. 


i68  HISTORY  OF  THE 


DONATIONS  AND  BEQUESTS. 

1817  to  1852.  Meta  Repold  .............     50.00 

Christian   Mayer  ..........  $50.00   Henry   Schneider  .........     50.00 

A.  J.  Schwartze  ..........  50.00   Nicholas    Popplein  ........     50.00 

Michael   Hummer  .........  50.00   SePe   Eichelberger  ........     30.00 

Frederick  Koenig  .........  50.00  L-  Eichelberger  ...........     ao.co 

F.  L.  E.  Amelung  ........  50.00   Frederick  C.  Graf  .........     50.00 

B.  I.  Von  Kapf  ..........  50.00   c-  L-  Weiskopff  ..........     20.00 

Solomon    Etting  ..........  50.00  jg- 

Henry   Keerl  .............  25.00    _  , 

T,   ,xr    -n  Oelnchs  &  Lurman  .......  $136.00 

F.  W.  Brune  .............  50.00 

P.   Arn.   Karthaus  ........  50.00  1854. 

I.  I.  Kohen,  Jr  ...........  50.00   Fred    Chr    Delius.  .  .  $50.00 

Charles   Schaefer  .........  20.00 

Lewis    Mayer  .............  20.00  1864. 

Christian  Keller  ..........  50.00  D.  H.  Meyer  ..............  $50.00 

Jere    Sullivan  ............  50.00 

Lewis  Brautz  .............  50.00  : 

Justus    Hoppe  ............  50.00   A1bert    Schumacher.  .  .  $10,000.00 

H.  D.  Witelhausen  ........  50.00  1877. 

Frederick  Hammer  .......  50.00   Hefm    Von  Rapff  $ 

August  Hammer  ..........  20.00   Q    w    Gail.  .  50.00 

Lawrence  Thompsen  ......  20.00    Christian  Ax  .............     50.^ 

"SS  ..............  2ao°   J.   D.    Kremelberg  ........     50.00 

John  Hoffman  ............  So.ooH>Arens  ................     2-  co 

George  Hoffman  ..........  50.00   L    w    Gunther  ...........     2$  ^ 

Peter    Hoffman  ...........  5O.ooWm     Seemuller  ..........     25.00 

John   Strieker  ............  50.00  John  R  Seemul]er  ........    25  co 

Henry    Messonnier  ........  50.00   Aug    y       lef 

"  '  ..........  5a°°   Geo'  A-  Von 


'      -  »     ......        . 

u  "  J:  Fnese  .......     5a0°   C  A.  Von  Lingen  .........     25.00 

John  F.  Fnese  ...........     50.00   T>  ,      ,    T    , 

Robert    Lehr  .............     20.00 

Charles  Bohn  .............     50.00 

James   Luber  .............     50.00  1800. 

Frederick  Waesche  .......     50.00    From  4  oyster  dredgers.  .  .  $35.00 


GERMAN  SOCIETY  OF  MARYLAND  169 

1892.  Mrs  Nannie  Ax 132.00 

Auguste  Holzemer $182.60  G.  W.  Gail 300.00 

Friend  through  H.  G.  H.      25.00  jgog. 

1893.  A.   S.  Abell  Co $150.00 

Unkel  Braesig  Verein. . .  .$  25.00  George    Brehm 100.00 

K. 52.00  Mrs.  Nannie  Ax 132.00 

S. 20.00  G.  W.  Gail 300.00 

L.  P.  Hennighausen 45.00  Herman    Seibert 60.00 

Gail  &  Ax  workmen 200.00  J°hann  Fr.  Zetzener 653-35 

James  Scott 50.00  Marie   Gundel 200.00 

Anna  Cath.  Denhardt 1093.18  !8o9. 

G-  W.Gail 75-00  A    s    Abell  Co  ..$150.00 

Mrs  Nannie  Ax 99.00   Louis  &  Chas    £    Dohme      25QQ 

1894.  G.  A.  Von  Lingen 100.00 

A.  C.  Meyer $  20.00  H'  G-  Hilken SO.OQ 

Ladies'    Bazar 614.51  Henry   Lauts SO.OQ 

Perpetual    Bed    in    Mary-  George    Brehm 200.00 

land     General     Hospital  Mrs-   Nannie  Ax l82-°° 

through    Ladies'    Bazar,  G-  W-  Gail 3OO.OO 

cost  coo  oo    H.  H.  Hobelman 50.00 

Mrs.   Nannie  Ax......'.. .   132.00  Herman    Seibert 60.00 

G.  W.  Gail 300.00   Cash-  • ' ; 5-00 

Celebration      of      German 

l895-  Day ...„•  160.14 

Frederick    Schepeler $1000.00 

A     /-*    >/r  I9°°- 

A.  C.  Meyer 20.00 

August    Marquardt 250.00    A-  S-  Abe11  Co $150.00 

Mrs.   Nannie  Ax 132.00   Geor«e    Brehm 2Oao° 

G.  W.  Gail 300.00   Mrs-   Nannie  Ax W-00 

G.  W.  Gail 300.00 

J°96-  Herman    Seibert 60.00 

Miss  Nannie  Ay $132.00 

G.  W.  Gail 300.00 

A.  S.  Abell  Co $150.00 

J897-  George    Brehm 200.00 

George  Brehm $20.00  Mrs.   Nannie  Ax 132.00 

Baltimore     Charter     Cen-  G.   W.  Gail 300.00 

nial    Committee 141.00  Herman    Seibert 100.00 


17°  HISTORY  OF  THE 

Mrs.  Mary  D.  Appell....  500.00  A    s    Abell  Co IOOOQ 

Chas-    Bem 390.00  Hessen-Darmst-Verein    ..  12.50 

I9°2'  G.W.Gail..  52000.00 

George    Brehm $400.00 

Christian  &  Marie  Ax. ...   132.00  Christian  &  M*rie  Ax. . .  132.00 

G.  W.  Gail 300.00  J°hn    Nickel 6-°° 

Herman   Seibert 80.00  Mrs-  Fr-  Sachs 3-QO 

Henry    Kynast 5.00 

1003. 

A.  S.  Abell  Co $150.00 

George    Brehm 200.00   George   Giinther $100.00 

Christian  &  Marie  Ax 132.00   Conrad   Reinhold 200.00 

G.   W.   Gail 300.00  A.  S.  Abell  Co 100.00 

Herman   Seibert 60.00  J-  Fredr.  Wiessner 200.00 

Henry    Schwarz 10.00   Gottlieb    Stiebritz 500.00 

Cash 5.00    Christian  &  Marie  Ax 132.00 

Drayton  M.  Hite 3.00                            I9O- 

IQ04-  Mrs.   Rosina   Sinsz $100.00 

A.  S.  Abell  Co $150.00    Christian  &  Marie  Ax 132.00 

Christian  &  Marie  Ax....   132.00  Eberhard    Niemann 2500.00 

G.   W.    Gail 300.00  Henry   Lants 1000.00 

Samuel    Siegael 5.00  ,. 

Hessen-Darmst-Verein     . .     12.50 

Ernst  Sander   (Leipzig)..     47.37   J°hn   C-    Scherer $IOOO° 

Mrs.  Anna  M.  Reier 100.00   Donations 162.00 

Christian  &  Marie  Ax....   132.00 

I9°5-  Unknown     through     Aug. 

Independent     Citizens'  Hassfurtier 20.00 

Union    120.00  Geo.  Bunnecke 5.00 

Samuel    Siegael 10.00  St.   Matthew's   Congreg.. .      5.00 


GERMAN  SOCIETY  OF  MARYLAND  171 


LIST  OF  MEMBERS  OF  THE  GERMAN  SOCIETY  OF 
MARYLAND. 

FIRST  ORGANIZED  1783. 
RECORDS  LOST  TO  1817. 

President  —  KARL  FRIEDRICH  WIESENTHAL,  1783. 
Secretary  —  JOHN  CONRAD  ZOLLICKOFFER,  1784. 
Physician  —  DR.  WILLIAM  ZOLLIKOFFER,  1783. 

MEMBERS. 
CHRISTIAN  MAYER,  1784  (List  of  Members  Lost.) 

List  of  Officers  and  Members  of  German  Society  of  Maryland,  at 
the  time  of  its  Incorporation,  1817.  Printed  in  Baltimore  1817  by 
Schaeffer  &  Maund. 

OFFICERS   OF  THE   SOCIETY. 
Elected  in  March,   1817. 

President  ........................  CHRISTIAN   MAYER. 

First  Vice-President  .............  DR.   AUG.   J.   SCHWARTZE. 

Second   Vice-President  ..........  B.  J.  VON  KAPFF. 

Third    Vice-President  ...........  HENRY  SCHROEDER. 

Fourth    Vice-President  ..........  JOHN  STRICKER. 

DAVID  HOFFMAN. 


,,          ,,    . 

Counsellors  ................... 

(  WILLIAM  FRICK. 

(  DR.  J.  G.  WOLFF, 
Physicians  ....................  j          T  „ 

(  DR.  JACOB  BAER. 

Treasurer  ......................  FREDERICK  WAESCHE. 

Secretary  of  the  Society  ........  LEWIS  MAYER. 

Secretary  of  the  Officers  ........  LAWR.  THOMSEN. 


172 


HISTORY  OF  THE 


MANAGERS. 


JUSTUS  HOPPE, 
LEWIS  BRANTZ, 
CONRAD  SCHULTZ, 
JACOB  SMALL, 
WILLIAM   KREBS, 
F.  L.  E.  AMELUNG, 


ALBERS,  SOLOMON  G. 
AMELUNG,  JOHN  P.  W. 
BADER,  DOMINICK. 
EVERS,  F.  G. 
EWALDT,  JOHN  H. 
FAHS,    CASPER. 
BAKER,  JOHN  H. 
BAKER,  JOSEPH. 
BAKER,  GEORGE  S. 
BAKER,  SAMUEL. 
BAKER,   WILLIAM. 
BECKER,  SIMON. 
BERGER,  JOHN. 
BERN  HART,  H. 
BOEHM,  CHARLES  G. 
BOHM,  CHARLES. 
BOSE,  WILLIAM. 
BRUNE,  F.  W. 
BRUNE,  JOHN  L. 
CAPITO,  CHRISTIAN. 
COHEN,  JUNR.  J.  J. 
DANNEMANN,  C.  H. 
DELIUS,  GEORGE. 

DlFFENDERFER,    CHAS. 
DlFFENDERFER,    MlCHL. 

DON  SEE,  LEOPOLD. 
DUNTZE,  GEORGE. 
ECKEL,  PHILIP  P. 


JOHN  FRICK, 
JOHN  F.  FRIESE, 
SAMUEL   KEERL, 
PETER  SAUERWEIN,. 
MICHAEL  KIM  MEL, 
JESSE  ElCHELBERGER. 


MEMBERS. 

ElCHELBERGER,   L. 

ETTING,  SOLOMON. 
KARTHAUS,  PETER  A. 
KARTHAUS,  CHARLES 

W. 

KEERL,  HENRY. 
KEERL,  JOHN  C. 
KEERL,  JOSHUA  S. 
KEERL,  GEORGE  H. 
KELLER,  CHRISTIAN. 
KONIG,  FREDERICK. 
KONIG,  C.  S. 
FRAILEY,  LEONARD. 
FRICK,  PETER. 
FRIESE,  PHILIP  R.  J. 
GHEQUIERE,  CHARLES. 
GLATTUS,  PETER. 
GRAF,  FREDERICK  C. 
GRASS,  JOHN  J. 
GROSS,  JOHANNES. 
GUILDENER,  CHARLES. 
HACTER,  GOTTLIEB. 
HAMMER,  FREDERICK. 
HAMMER,  AUGUST. 
HASILY,  SAMUEL. 
HEDRICK,  THOMAS. 
HENCK,  F.  W. 
HERTZOG,  J.  F. 


HOFFMAN,  JOHN. 
HOFFMAN  GEORGE. 
HOFFMAN,  PETER. 
HORN,  PHILIP. 
HURXTHAL,  BENJAMIN 
HURXTHAL,  FERDINAND 
HURXTHAL,  LEWIS. 
INGDEN,  PETER. 
PROEBSTING,  THEODOR. 

C. 

RATIEN,  RICHARD. 
READEL,  JOHN  D. 
REPOLD,  METTA. 
ROHR,   ANDREW. 
ROTHROCK,  JOHN. 
RUDENSTEIN,  JOHN  M. 
SADTLER,  PHILIP  B 
SAUERWEIN,     JUNR. 

PETER. 

KONIG,  HENRY. 
KRAFFT,  J.  P. 
KRABER,  DANIEL. 
KRIEG,  FREDERICK. 
LABES,  JAMES. 
LEYPOLD,  FREDERICK. 
LlNDENBERGER,  JACOB. 
LITTIG,  PHILIP. 
MACKER,  BENJAMIN. 


GERMAN  SOCIETY  OF  MARYLAND 


173 


MEDTART,  JOSHUA. 
MEETH,  PHILIP. 
MEINECKE,  C. 
MILLER,    CHRISTOPHER. 
MYERS,  JACOB. 
MYERS,  GEORGE. 
MYERS,  SAMUEL. 
NENNINGER,  B. 
NENNINGER,  JOHN. 
POEPPLEIN,  NICHOLAS. 
SUHR,  JACOB. 
THOMAE,  HUILFREICH. 
THOMAS,  D.  L. 
UHLER,  PHILIP. 
VIBRANS,  WILLIAM. 


VICKERS,  JOEL. 
WALL,  JACOB. 
WARNER,  GEORGE. 
SCHAEFER,  CHRISTIAN. 
SCHAEFFER,  FREDERICK. 
SCHAEFFER,  F.  G. 
SCHLEY,  JACOB. 
SCHMINKE,  GEORGE. 
SCHMIDT,  WILLIAM  L. 
SCHRODER,  JR.,  HENRY. 

SCHROEDER,   WlLLIAM. 

SCHROEDER,  CHARLES. 
SCHULTZE,  J.  E.  C. 
SELLERS,  ABRAHAM. 
SIGMOND,  JOHN  PETER. 


SPIES,  JOHN  P. 
STARCK,  GEORGE. 
STEINBACK,  JOHN  C. 
STOUFFER,  JOHN. 
STRISCHKA,  JOSEPH. 
SULLIVAN,  JEREMIAH. 
SULTZER,  SEBASTIAN. 
WARNER,  MICHAEL. 
WARNER,  WILLIAM. 
WEISE,  A. 
WERDEBAUGH,  JOHN. 

WlCHELHAUSEN,  H.   D. 

WlCHELHAUSEN,  JACOB. 
WOEHLERS,  CHARLES. 


The  above  named  149  members  subscribed  the  Constitution  and 
By-Laws  of  the  Society  in  1817. 


174 


LIST  OF  OFFICERS  OF  THE  SOCIETY. 

Years.  PRESIDENTS. 

1783  to  DR.  CHARLES  F.  WIESENTHAL 2  years. 

1817  to  1821  CHRISTIAN    MAYER 4  years. 

1821  to  1833  JUSTUS   HOPPE 12  years. 

1833  to  1841  URIAS  W.  KARTHAUS 8  years. 

1841  to  1872  ALBERT    SCHUMACHER 31  years. 

1872  to  1879  HERMANN  VON  KAPFF 7  years. 

1879  to  1887  CLAAS    VOCKE 8  years. 

1887  to  Louis  T.   HENNIGHAUSEN 


VICE-PRESIDENTS. 


1817-1822 
1817-1827 
1817-1826 
1817-1822 
1822-1861 
1822-1830 
1820-1840 
1826-1829 
1830-1833 
1830-1841 

1833-1859 
1830-1846 
1860-1867 
1840-1845 
1846-1852 
1846-1853 
1851-1879 
1859-1877 
1861-1889 
1867-1869 


B.  J.  VON  KAPFF.  1869- 

GEN'L.  JOHN  STRICKER.  1870- 

DR.  AUG.  J.  SCHWARTZ.  1879- 

HEINRICH    SCHROEDER.  1877 

F.  W.  BRUNE,  SR.  1879- 

JOHN  HOFFMAN.  1883- 

SOLOMON  ETTING.  1887- 

JACOB   SMALL.  1887- 

CLAAS  W.  KARTHAUS.  1888- 

SAMUEL  KEEL.  1889- 

CHARLES  G.  BOEHM.  1892- 

[•  GUSTAV  W.   LilRMAN. 

1894- 

CHAS.  F.  MAYER.  1895- 

DR.  A.  WEGNER.  1903 

F.  L.   BRAUN.  1905 

CHAS.  W.  LENTZ.  1906 

JUSTUS  BRUEHL.  1906 

WM.  NUMSEN.  1907 
CHARLES   SPILKER. 


1872 
1871 
1887 
-1878 
-1883 
1887 
1893 
1893 
1902 

1893 
1906 
1894 
1906 
1906 

5-1908 


CHRISTIAN   Ax. 
I  H.  VON  KAPFF. 

WM.    SEEMITLLER. 

JACOB    FURST. 

HY.  WILKINS. 

FREDK.  WEHR. 

P.  L.  KEYSER. 

CLAAS  VOCKE. 

FREDK.  RAINE. 

GEO.  W.  GAIL. 

ERNST  KNABE 

C.  W.   SCHNEIDEREITH. 

H.  H.  HOBELMAN. 

H.    G.    HlLKEN. 

HENRY  LANTS. 
GEO.   BUNNECKE. 

LOUIS    T.    DlETERICH. 

JACOB  KLEIN. 


TREASURERS. 

1817-1825  FREDERICK  WAESCHE.  iSgo-July  1908  CHAS.   WEBER,  JR. 

1825-1845  BENJ.  J.  COHEN.  igo8-July  to  January  ROBERT  M. 
1845-1877  ISRAEL  COHEN.  ROTHER,  Pro  Tem. 

1877-1879  JNO  R.   SEEMULLER.  1909 CONRAD  C.  RABBE. 

1879-1890  EDW.   NIEMANN. 

SECRETARIES. 

1817-1822  LEWIS  MAYER.  1852-1856  G.  H.  SPILKER. 

1817-1820  LAWRENCE    THOMSON.  1853-1870  H.  VON  KAPFF. 

1818 WM.  FRICK.  1856-1865  D.  H.  MEIER. 

1821-1824  HENRY  G.  JACOBSON.  1865-1873  GEO.  A.  VON  LINGEN. 

1824 B.  J.  COHEN.  1870-1874  H.   WILKENS. 

1825 J.  C.  DANTS.  1874-1887  J.  C.  WILKENS. 

1826-1829  FREDK.  L.  BRAUNS.  1874-1887  H.  G.  HILKEN. 

1829-1833  CHAS.  STARKE.  1887-1888  JOHN  HINRICKS. 

1832-1840  FREDK.  FOCKE.  1887-1894  J.  H.  MIDDENDORF. 

1833-1843  CHAS.   SPILKER.  1888-1899  R.   M.  ROTHER. 

1843-1853  CLAAS  VOCKE.  1894-1896  M.  MEYERDIKCK. 

1841-1849  CHARLES  W.  LENTZ.  1896 HERMAN  KNOLLENDERG. 

1846-1852  GEO.  SANDER.  1899 H.  RUHSTRAT. 

COUNSELLORS. 

1817-1832  WILLIAM  FRICK,  ESQ.  1885-1887  L.   P.  HENNIGHAUSEN, 
1817-1835  DAVID  HOFFMAN,  ESQ.  ESQ. 

1819-1820  J.  R.  CRUSE,  ESQ.  1888-1896  HEINRICH     C.    TIECK. 
1821-1838  CHAS.  F.  MAYER,  ESQ.  ESQ. 

1835-1882  F.  W.  BRUNE,  ESQ.  1892 OSCAR  WOLFF,  ESQ. 

1838-1843  BRANTZ  MAYER.   ESQ.  1900-1907  J.        FREDERICK       RE- 

1843-1896  WM.  F.  FRICK,  ESQ.  QUARDT,  ESQ. 

1875-1881  ALEXANDER         WOLFF,  1907 CHRIST.     R.    WATTEN- 

ESQ.  SCHEIDT,  ESQ. 

1883-1900  F.  W.  BRUNE,  ESQ. 

PHYSICIANS. 

1784 DR.      KARL     FREDRICK  1817-1818  DR.  JACOB  BAER. 

WIESENTHAL.  1818-1826  DR.  EDW.  SCHWARZ. 

1785 DR.    WM.  ZOLLIKOFFER.  1818-1823  DR.   EDW.    HUTTNER. 

1817-1818  DR.  JOHN  G.  WOLFF.  1822-1826  DR.  J.  FRICK. 


176 


HISTORY  OF  THE 


1826-1830  DR.  A.  WEGNER. 
1826-1830  DR.  JOSHUA  J.  COHEN. 
1830-1832  DR.  WM.  KEERL. 
1830-1845  DR.  F.  E.  B.  HINTZE. 
1832-1841  DR  EDWARD  SCHWARTZE 
1839-1841  DR.  A.  J.  SCHWARTZE. 
1841-1883  DR.  HENRY  ALBERS. 
1841-1844  DR.   SCHURMAN. 
1846-1848  DR.  J.  A.  BENKE. 
1848-1850  DR.  E.  A.  HAMEL. 
1850-1852  DR.  L.   MORAWITZ. 

1853-1854   DR.     ZlERING. 

1854-1869  DR.   FRIEDHOEFER. 
1869-1876  DR.  F.  HESEL. 
1869-1876  DR.  C.  F.  HEUSER. 


1873-1891  DR.  CARL  HOFFMAN. 

1876-1883  DR.  L.  C.  WINTERNITZ 

1876-1883  DR.  H.  SALZER. 

1880-1888  DR.  A.  MATHIEU. 

1883-1891  HENRY  GOMBEL. 

1883-1893  DR.  ADOLPH   BOEHM. 

1888-1895  DR.  A.  V.  GOSWEILER. 

1893-1895  DR.  W.  HENSCHEL. 

1893-1898  DR.     JOHN     C.     HEM- 
METER. 

X896 DR.      CHAS.      H.      A. 

MEYER. 

DR.  FREDK.  W.  HOBEL- 

MANN. 


MANAGERS. 


1817  F.  L.  E.  AMELUNG. 

1818  FREDERICK  AMELUNG. 
1858  CHRISTIAN  Ax. 

1874  FREDERICK  ARRAS. 
1876  HENRY  ARENS. 

1888  JOHN  ALBAUGH. 

1889  JOHN  B.  ADT. 
1818  Louis  BRANTZ. 
1830  F.  L.  BRAUNS. 
1830  ARIAS  G.  BOEHM. 
1836  MATTHIAS   BENZINGER. 

1841  F.    BREDEMEYER. 

1842  JUSTUS   BRUEHL. 
1851  A.  BREDE. 

1853  CHARLES   BULLING. 
1884  CHARLES  A.  BRACK. 
1884  GEORGE  BAUERNSCHMIDT. 

1888  CHARLES  BEIN. 

1889  GEO.  WM.  BECKER. 
1893  GEORGE  BUNNECKE. 
1898  GEORGE  BREHM. 


1901  EDMUND  BRUENNING. 

1905  HERMAN  BADEN  HOOP. 

1906  G.  H.  BLANK. 
1822  BENJ.  J.   COHEN. 
1840  J.  J.  COHEN,  JR. 
1846  CHARLES   CASPARI. 

1854  WILLIAM   CASPARI. 

1855  HERMAN   CLASSEN. 

1874  M.  G.  COHEN. 

1818  CHAS.  DIFFENDERFER. 
1826  C.  H.  DANNEMAN. 

1846  CHAS.  DEGENHARDT. 

1847  CHRISTIAN  DEERKE. 
1852  G.  C.  DEERKE. 
1868  TJARKS  DEETJEN. 
IQOI  Louis  P.  DIETRICH. 
1903  CHARLES  E.   DOHME. 
1818  PHILIP  ECKEL. 

1846  JOHN  ESCHBACH. 

1875  FRED.   ELLENBROCK. 
1817  JOHN  F.  FRIESE. 


GERMAN  SOCIETY  OF  MARYLAND 


177 


1821  WM.   FRICK. 
1827  ARAS    FISCHER. 
1838  FREDK.  FOCKE. 
1847  GEO.  N.  FISCHER. 
1871  JOHN  FRIEDRICH. 
1877  EMIL  FISCHER. 

1880  JOSEPH  FRIEDENVVALD. 
1890  PROF.  OTTO  FUCHS. 

1893  FRED.  W.  FELDNER. 
1841  F.  B.  GRAF. 

1880  H.  H.  GRAUE. 

1894  EDWD  C.  GEYER. 
1897  F.  H.  GANTER. 
1907  WILLIAM   GRECHT. 

1817  JUSTUS  HOPPE. 

1818  AUGUST   HAMMER. 

1822  DAVID   HOFFMAN. 
1827  DR.  F.  E.  B.  HINTZE. 

1827  C.  A.  HEINEKEN. 

1828  B.   HURSCHTHAL. 

1829  J.    J.    HOOGEWERF. 
1833    WM.    HlLLBERG. 
1837   H.    R.   HOFFMEISTER. 

1841  H.  C.  HUENE. 

1847    G.   H.     HUENICHEN. 

1858  H.  HAUSENWALD. 
1869  FERDINAND   HASSENCAMP. 
1874  JOHN  HEM  METER. 
1874  H.  HASENBALG. 

l888   H.   H.    HOBELMANN. 

1888  JACOB  HECHT. 

1890   CHAS.    HlLGENBERG. 
1890   H.    G.    HlLKEN. 

1892  REV.  EDWARD  HUBER. 
1906  REV.  JULIUS   HOFMANN. 
1909  JOHN   HINRICHS. 

1893  HENRY  JOESTING. 
1817  WILLIAM   KREBS. 


1817  SAMUEL  KEERL. 

1817  MICHAEL   KIMMEL. 
1821  CHAS.  W.  KARTHAUS. 
1825  J.  P.  KRAFFT. 

1828  EDWARD  KURTZ. 
1830  FREDK.   KOENIG. 

1839  C.  KRETZER. 
1843  JOHN  T.  KALL. 

1852  WM.  KNABE. 

1853  H.  KOCHLING. 
1856  AUG.  KOEHLER. 
1874  ERNST  KNABE. 
1874  J.  G.  KOPPELMAN. 

1877  P-  L-  KEYSER. 
1884  HENRY  KNEFELY. 
1891  WILLIAM  KOCH. 
1893  JACOB  KLEIN. 
1899  ERNST   KNABE,  JR. 
1901  ARNOLD  KUMMER. 

1818  FREDK.  LEYPOLD. 
1837  C.  LINDEMAN. 
1848  WM.  LAMPING. 

1878  GEBHARD    LEIMBACH. 
1887  CHRISTOPH.  LIPPS. 
1891  HENRY  LANTS. 

1840  GEN'L.  JOSHUA  MEDTARDT. 

1841  G.  H.  MITTNACHT. 
1841  AUG.  MILLER. 

1843  J.  K.  MESERSMITH. 
1887  JOHN  MEETH. 
1889  A.  C.  MEYER. 

1895  J.   WM.   MlDDENDORF. 

1896  CHARLES  J.  MARBURG. 
1898  FREDK.  J.  MAYER. 
1906  WM.   MEISSEL. 

1840  WILLIAM   NUMSEN. 
1856  CHARLES  NITZE. 
1878  FREDK.  OELMAN. 


HISTORY  OF  THE 


1829  C.   G.    PETERS. 
1854  DIETRICH  PRALLE. 
1906  MAX  QUITT. 
1852  FR.  UHTOFF. 
1877  F.  W.  ULRICH. 
1825  HENRY  RODERWALD. 
1867  JACOB  RUDOLPH. 

1898  HENRY  RUHSTRAT. 

1899  ROBERT  M.  ROTHER. 
1817  CONRAD   SCHULZ. 
1817  JACOB  SMALL. 

1817  PETER  SAUERWEIN. 

1818  HENRY   SCHROEDER. 
1821  PHILIP  D.  SADTLER. 
1821  FREDK.  G.  SCHAEFER. 
1827  PETER  SAUERWEIN,  JR. 
1827  C.  A.  SCHAEFER. 

1833  ALBERT  SCHUMACHER. 
!833  JOHN  P.  STROBLE. 
1836  CHAS.  W.  SPILKER. 

1848  E.  SCHOENING. 

1849  A.   SEMULLER. 
1859  JACOB  SEEGER. 
1862  ALEX.  H.  SCHULZ. 
1872  CHRIS.  SCHMIDT. 
1872  JOHN  STELLMAN. 


1873  CAPT.   HENRY  STEFFENS. 
1875  FR.   SCHAD. 

l888  CHAS.   W.   SCHNEIDEREITH. 

1890  GUSTAV    SlEGMUND. 

1891  ERNST  SCHMEISSER. 
1891  HENRY    SCHWARZ. 

1899  CAPT.   DANIEL  STEEXKEX. 

1906  FRANK  STEIL. 

1909  Louis  C.  SCHNEIDEREITH. 

1856  ADAM   TREUSCH. 

1869  JACOB  TRUST. 

1874  CHAS.   THIENEMANN 

1832  GEO.  A.  VAN   SPRECKELEX. 

1846  A.  H.  VON  POST. 

1850  HERM.  VON.  KAPPF. 

1853  AUG.   VOGELER. 

1888  HENRY  VEES. 

1841  AUGUST  WEGNER. 

1878  FREDERICK  WEHR. 

1887  CHARLES  WEBER,  JR. 

1888  FREDK.  WALPERT. 

1895  RUDOLPH    WATTENSCHEIDT. 

1896  J.   FREDK.   WIESSNER. 
1898  PAUL  WEILBACHER. 
1903  EDW.   WISH  MEYER. 
1888  CONRAD    ZEUL. 


GERMAN  SOCIETY  OF  MARYLAND 


179 


LIST  OF  MEMBERS  OF  THE  GERMAN  SOCIETY  OF 
MARYLAND. 

Since  Its  Commencement. 

Printed  by  John  T.  Hanzsche  in  Baltimore,  1851. 
Members    Deceased    or    Resigned. 


LIFE. 

AMELUNG,  F.  L.  E. 
BOHN,  CHARLES. 
BRANTZ,   CHARLES. 
FRIESE,  JOHN  F. 
ETTING,  SOLOMON. 
GRAFF,  FREDERICK. 
HAMMER,  FREDERICK. 
HOFFMANN,  GEORGE. 
HOFFMANN,  J. 
HOFFMANN,    PETER. 
HOPPE,  JUSTUS. 
KAPFF,  B.  J.  VON. 
KARTHAUS,  P.  A. 
KELLER,  CHRIST. 
KIM  MEL,  MICHAEL. 
MAYER,  CHRISTIAN. 
LABES,  JAMES. 
MESSONIER,  H. 
REFOLD,  METTA. 
SCHROEDER,  H. 
SCHULTZ,  CONRAD. 
SCHWARTZE,  A.  J. 
STRICKER,  JOHN. 
SULLIVAN,  J. 
WAESCHE,  FRED. 

WlCHELHAUSEN,   H.  D 


ALBERS,  S.  G. 
ALBERT,  JACOB. 
AMELUNG,  J.  P.  W. 
AMELUNG,  ANT. 
BADER,  DOMINIK. 
BAER,  JACOB,  M.  D. 
BAKER,   JOSEPH. 
BAKER,  JOHN  H. 
BAKER,  SAMUEL. 
BAKER,   WILLIAM. 
BALTZELL,  CHS. 
BALTZELL,  EMIL. 
BALTZELL,  ALEX. 
BALTZELL,  JACOB. 
BALTZELL,  PHILIP. 
BALTZELL,    THOM. 
BALTZELL,  WILLIAM. 
BECK,  THOMAS. 
BECKER,  DIETRICH. 
BECKER,  SIEMON. 
BECHTEL,  JOHN  P. 
BELTZ  HOOVER,  GEO. 
BERGER,  JOHN. 
BERNHARDT,  H. 
BERSCH,  HENRY. 
BOENINGER,   ARNOLD. 
,  BOENINGER,  GUSTAV. 


BOLTE,  JOHN. 
BOSE,  WILLIAM. 
BOEVING,  GUSTAV. 
BOEVING,  G.  A. 
BREDEMEYER,  FR. 
CAPITO,  CHRISTIAN. 
CARSTARYEN,  E. 
COHEN,  Jos.  L,  M.  D. 
COHEN,  B.  J. 
COHEN,  DAVID  I. 
DANNEMANN,  C.  H. 
DANNENBERG,  F.  R. 
DEEMS,  JACOB. 
DELEVIE,    SOLOMON. 
DELINS,  F.  C. 
DELINS,  GEORGE. 
DIELMAN,   HENRY. 
DlFFENDERFFER,   CHAS. 

DlFFENDERFFER,  MlCH. 

DONSEE,  LEOP. 
DREGE,  JACOB  R. 
DROEGE,  JOHN. 
DUNTE,  JOHN  C. 
DUNTZE,  GEORGE. 
DURST,  FREDK. 
DYER,  LEON. 
DYER,  JOHN  M. 


i8o 


HISTORY  OF  THE 


ECKARDT,  JOHN. 
ECKEL,  CHAS.  F. 
ECKEL,  PH.  N. 

ElCHELBERGER,  G.  S. 
ElCHELBERGER,  JESSE. 
ElCHELBERGER,  L. 

ENTZE,  J.  F. 
ETTING,  SAMUEL. 
ETTING,  B.  J. 
EVERS,  F.   G. 
EWALT,  JOHN  H. 
FALIS,  CASPER. 
FISHER,   CHS. 
FISCHER,  CHS.  W. 
FISCHER,  G.  N. 
FOCKE,  C.  W. 
FOCKE,  FREDK. 
FRAILEY,  L. 
PREY,  JOHN. 
FRICK,   PETER. 
FRICK,  JOHN. 
FRICK,  WILLIAM. 
GARBADE,   GEBH. 
GELBACH,  C. 
GEBHARDT,  C.  E. 
GHEQUIERE,  CHS. 
GIESE,  L.  W.  H. 
GRONIG,  RUDOLPH. 
GROSS,  JOHN. 
GROSS,  JOHN  S. 

GUDERVILL,    H. 
GULDENER,    CflAS. 

HALVERN,  E. 
HA  MEL,  M.  D. 
HAMMER,  AUG. 
HAMMER,  GOTTFRT. 
HARJES,  F.  H. 
HARMAN,  JOHN. 


HARTWIG,  JOHN  H. 
HASLEY,   SAM'L. 
HEDRICK,   THOMAS. 
HEINEKEN,  C.  A. 
HENK,  F.  W. 
HENNING,  THOMAS. 
HERTZOG,  J.  F. 
HILLBERG,  WM. 
HILL,  J.  H. 
HINTZE,  F.  E.  B.,  M. 

D. 

HISKY,  JOSEPH. 
HOFF,  JOHN  M. 
HOFFMANN,  DAV. 
HOLLEN,     CHRISTIAN 

VON. 

HOLZERMAN,  J. 
HOOGEWERFF,  J.  P. 
HOOVER,  F. 
HOPPE,  H. 
HORN,  PHIL. 
HORTON,  JAMES. 
HUXTAHL,  BENJ. 
HUXTAHL,  FREDK. 
HUXTAHL,  LEWIS. 
HTJSTER,  GOTTLIEB. 
KALL,  JOHN  T. 
KARTHAUS,  A.  W. 
KARTHAUS,  P.  A. 
KAYLOR,  GEORGE. 
KEENER,  DAVID. 
KEENER,  CHRISTIAN. 
KEERL,  HENRY. 
KEERL,  WM.,  M.  D. 
KEERL,  JOHN  C. 
KEERL,  SAMUEL. 
KEERL,  GEO.  H. 
KEERL,  JOSHUA. 


KEYSER,  G. 
KEYSER,  CHS.  M. 
KLEIN,  E.  F. 
KLEIN,  FREDERICK. 
KNORRE,  CHS. 
KOCH,  FRED. 
KOCHLER,  GEO. 
KONIG,  C.  H. 
KONIG,  HENRY. 
KOSTER,  A. 
KOSTER,  D. 
KRABER,  DANL. 
KRAFFT,  CHARLES  L. 
KRAFFT,  J.  P. 
KRAIL,  JOHN  G. 
KREBS,  GEO  W. 
KREBS,  WILLIAM. 
KRETZER,  C. 
KRIEG,  FREDK. 
KUESTER,  CHS.  L. 
KUESTER,  ERNST. 
LEYPOLD,  FR. 
LEYPOLD,  F.  W. 
LEWIS. 
LIGHTNER,   ISAAC. 

LlMMER.  G. 

LlNDENBERGER,  JACOB. 
LINDHORN,  HENRY. 
LITTIG,    PHILIP. 
MACKER,  BENJ. 
MARQUARDT,  H. 
MAUL,  GEO.   N. 
MAUND,  THOMAS. 
MAYER,  LEWIS. 
MEDTART,  JOSHUA. 
MEINEKE,  C. 
METTINGER,  C.  A, 
METTINGER,  GOTTLIEB. 


MOTZ,  D. 
MUELLER,  AUG. 
MUELLER,  CHRIST. 
MUNDER,  CHAS.  F. 
MUNKS,  A. 
MUTH,  PHILIP. 
MYERS,  GEO. 
MYERS,  JACOB. 
MYERS,  SAMUEL. 
NENNINGER,  JOHN. 
NENNINGER,  B. 
OELRICHS,  E.  G. 
OOLO,  L. 
PETERS,  C.  G. 
PETRI,  J.   F. 
POST,  A.  H.  VON. 
PROEBSTING,  TH.   C. 
RATIEN,  RICHARD. 
RAU,  J.  C. 
READEL,  JOHN  D. 
RECKERS,  G.  J. 
RFPPART,   GEO. 
REPPART,  JOHN. 
RODEWALD,  FREDK. 
RODEWALD,  HENRY. 
RODEWALD,  WILLIAM. 
ROHR,  ANDREW. 
ROMYN,  J.  H. 
ROTHROCK,  JOHN. 
RUDEN STEIN,  J.  M. 
SADTLER,  PHILIP  B. 
SAUERHOFF,  JOHN. 
SAUERWEIN,  PETER. 
SAUERWEIN,  PETER,  JR. 
SCHAEFER,  CHRIST. 
SCHAEFER,  FREDK. 
SCHAEFER,  F.  C. 
SCHETTER,  FREDK. 


SCHLEY,  JACOB. 
SCHMIDT,  A. 
SCHMIDT,  WM.  L. 
SCHMINKE,  GEORGE. 
SCHOENING,  E. 

SCHROEDER,    WM. 
SCHROEDER,  CHAS. 

SCHROEDER,  H.,  JR. 
SCHULTZE,  J.  E.  C. 
SCHULTZ,  JEFFERSON. 
SCHWARTZ,  E.  F.,M.  D. 
SCHWARTZ,  JULIUS. 
SEEGER,  JACOB. 
SEEKAMP,  ALBERT. 
SELLERS,  ABRAHAM. 
SELTZER,  ADAM. 
SIEGMUND,  JOHN  P. 
SILVER,  LEWIS. 
SLINGLUFF,  CHARLES. 
SMALL,  JACOB. 
SMALL,  WM.  F. 
SMITH,  NICOLAS. 
SNYDER,  JOSEPH. 
SNYDER,  PETER. 
STOFFER,  JOHN. 
SPICER,  JOHN  P. 
SUHR,  JACOB. 
SUPER,  JOHN. 
SULTZER,  SEBASTIAN. 
STARCKE,  CHARLES. 
STARK,  GEO. 
STEINBECK,  JOHN  C. 
STRICKER,  JOHN. 
STRITSCHKA,  J.  A. 
STRUBBERG,  S.  A. 
STRUTHHOFF,  BARNEY. 
THOMAE,  GEO. 
THOMAE,  H. 


THOMAS,  D.  L. 
THOMSON,  LAWR. 
TURNER,  GEO.  N. 
UHLER,  PHILIP. 
VERNUNFT,  THEODOR. 
VIBRANS,  WM. 
VICKERS,  JOEL. 
WALL,  JACOB. 
WERNECKEN,  J.  D. 
WARNER,  GEO. 
WARNER,  MICHAEL, 
WARNER,  WILLIAM. 
WEIS,  JOHN. 
WEISE,  A. 
WEISKOPFF,  C.  L. 
WERDEBAUGH,  JOHN. 
WESTPHAL. 

WlCHELHAUSEN,  JACOB. 
WILL,  CHAS.  F. 
WINKLER,  JOHN. 
WOCHLERS,  CHRIST. 
WOLF,  JOHN  G.,  M.  D. 
YONKER,  FRANCIS. 
ZIEGLER,  JOHN. 
ZIEGLER,  LEONHARDT. 
ZINTNER,  FREDK. 
ZOLLER,  M.D. 

B. — Members  in  1851. 

AHRENS,  ADOLPH. 
ALBERS,  H.,  M.  D. 
ALBERTI,  H.  F. 
ARENS,  HENRY. 
BALLAUF,  AUGUST. 
BENZINGER,  MATTHIAS. 
BERG,  OTTO  H. 
BENKE,  J.  A.,  M.  D. 


1 82 


HISTORY  OF  THE 


BlEDE,    A. 

BOEHM,  CHAS.  G. 
BOENINGER,  CHAS. 
BOENINGER,  EDWARD. 
BRAUNS,  F.  L. 
BRUHL,  JUSTUS. 
BRUNE,  F.  W.,  for  life. 
BRUNE,  F.  W.,  JR. 
BRUNE,  JOHN  C. 
BRUNE,  WM.  H. 
BUCHWALTER,  A. 
BULLING,  CHAS. 
BULLING,  F. 
CASPARI,  CHAS. 
CASPARI,  WM. 
CLASSEN,  HERM. 
COHEN,  J.  T.,  JR.  for 

life. 

COHEN,  ISRAEL. 
COHEN,  MOSES. 
CONRAD,  G.  J. 
CREY,  FREDK. 
DAM  MAN,  F.  W. 
DEERKE,  G.  C. 
DEGENHARDT,  CHAS. 
DELINS,  CHARLES. 

DlERING,  LUDWIG. 
DlERKING,    H. 
DlTTUS,  F. 

DOBLER,  THEOPHOLUS. 
DRESEL,  W. 
DROST,  G.  A. 

DURCHHAUSEN. 
ElSENBRANDT,   C.   H. 

ELTERMANN,  FRED. 
ENGLER,  ADOLPH. 
ESCHBACH,  JOHN. 
FELGNER,  F.  W. 


FlCKEY,   A. 

FLAMM,  PETER. 
FRICK,  GEORGE,  M.  D. 
FRICK,  WM.   F. 
FRIESE,  PH.  R.  J.,  for 

life. 

FRIESE,  PHILIP  C. 
GABLE,  JOHN. 
GAEHLE,  HENRY. 
GAIL,  GEORGE  W. 
GERDES,  H.  G. 
GLOCKER,  THEODOR. 
GRAF,  FRED.  B. 
GRAUE,  H.  H. 
GROENINGER,  AUG. 
GUNTHER,  H. 
GUDE,  JUSTUS. 
HARJES,  JOHN  H. 
HARMAN,  GEO. 
HEN  NIGS,  E.  A. 
HINRICHS,  CHR. 
HOGENDORP,  E. 
HOLSTE,  P.  C. 
HUENICHEN,  G. 
HUNTEMULLER,  F.  H. 
HUPPMANN,  N. 
JACOBSON,  H.  G. 
KATZ,  JOHN. 
KEYSER,  MOSES. 
KIRCH  NER,  H. 
KAPFF,  HERM.  VON 
KAPFF,  FRED.  VON. 
KLAUMBURG,  H.  F. 
KLEYENSTEUBEN,  F.  H. 
KLINGENBERG,  A. 
KNABE,  WM. 
KOECHLING,  H.  M. 
KOEHLER,  AUG. 


KOENIG,  FRED.,  for  life. 
KREMELBERG,  J.  D. 
KURTZ,  ED. 
LAMPING,  WM. 
LANGE,  JOHN  GEO. 
LEHR,  ROBERT, 
LEMKE,  E.  H. 
LENTZ,  CHAS.  W. 
LEUPOLD,  CHAS. 
LEWIS,  MARTIN. 

LlNDENMANN,    CONRAD. 
LlNGENFELDER,   F.  H. 
LilRMAN,    G.   W. 

MANN,  ERNST. 
MAYER,  FRED. 
MAYER,  CHAS.  F. 
MALLINKRODT,  W. 
MARBURG.  WM. 
MESSERSMITH,  J.  K. 
METZ,  AUGUST. 
MEYER,  BURKHARDT. 
MEYER,  FERDINAND. 
MEYER,  AUGUST. 

MlDDENDORF,    H. 
MlTTENDORFF,    C. 

MORAWETZ,  L.,  M.  D. 
MUELLER,  JULIUS. 
MUELLER,  H. 
NOLTING,  CHAS. 
NUMSEN,  WM. 
OELRICHS,  HENRY. 
OGSTON,  A.  W. 
OHRENSCHALL,  CHAS. 
PETERS,  JOHN  G. 
POEPPLEIN,  NICH.,  for 

life. 

POEPPLEIN,  GEO. 
PRALLE,  DIETRICH. 


GERMAN  SOCIETY  OF  MARYLAND 


183 


PRACHT,  AUGUST  C. 
PRECHT,  C. 
PREISS,  HIRSCH. 
PRIOR,  O.  F. 
RAINE,  FRED. 
REINHARDT,  CHAS.  C. 
RICKERS,  NICHOLAS. 

RlPPLEMEYER,    C.    H. 

SADTLER,   JOHN. 
SANDER,   GEO. 
SCHAER,  WM. 
SCHAEFFER,  C.  A. 
SCHAUM,  FRED. 
SCHEPPLER,  FRED. 
SCHMIDT,  JAS.  A. 
SCHMIDT,  GEO. 

SCHNIBBE,  DlEDR. 


SCHUMACHER,  ALBERT. 
SEEMUELLER,  AUG. 
SIEMERS,  H. 
SIKKEN,  CHARLES. 
SIMON,  CHARLES. 
SIMON,  CHARLES,  JR. 
SIMON,  HERMAN. 
SIMON,  MAX. 
SPILKER,  C.  W. 
SPILKER,  G.  H. 
SPILKER,  CHARLES. 
SPRECKELSEN,    G.    A. 

VON. 

STEHL,  JOHN. 
STEINHOEFER,  C. 
STELLMANN,  JOHN. 
STRAUS,  HENRY. 


STRAUS,   LEVY. 
STROBEL,  J.  P. 
STROHMEYER,  GEO. 
STROHM,  J.  F. 
THUENER,  L.  W. 
TOEL,  GUST. 
TRUST,  JACOB. 
TURNER,  J.  MAYBURY. 
UHRLAUB,  EDW. 
UHTHOFF,  FRED. 
VOCKE,  CLAAS. 
VOGELER,  CHAS. 
WAESCHE,  G.  F.  K. 
WEGNER,  AUG.,  M.  D, 
WIEGEL,  HENRY. 
WILKINS,  H. 
Wiss,  E.,  M.  D. 


1 84 


HISTORY  OF  THE 


MEMBERS  FROM  1851  TO  1908. 


Deceased  or  Resigned 
from  1851  to  1908. 

Ax,  CHRISTIAN. 
ALLERS,  J.  A. 
ALBAUGH,  JOHN. 
ALBERS,  A. 

Active,  1908. 

ADAMS,  HENRY. 
ADT,  JOHN  B. 
AHRENS,  JULIUS. 
ALTVATER,  Louis. 
ANCKER,  WALTER. 
APITZ,  REV.  OTTO. 
ARLT,  REV.  HANS. 
ASSAU,  W.  F. 
ATKINSON,  WM.  GEO. 
AUER,  PHILIP  T. 
AULL,  Louis. 
Ax,  CHRISTIAN. 

Deceased  or  Resigned 
from  1851  to  1908. 

BECK,  F.  W. 
BROCKELMAN,  THEO. 
BRINKE,  H.  AD. 
BOLTE,  S. 

BOLENIUS,   H. 

BACKMEISTER,  W. 
BICHEY,  HERM. 
BOEDECKER,  G.  D. 


BACHMAN,  J.  C.  H. 
BENZINGER,  F. 
BREHME,  C. 
BREHME,  O.  H. 
BELITZ,  ADELLERT. 
BECKER,  H. 
BRUNS,  JOHN. 
BAUERNSCHMIDT,  GEO. 
BOEHM,  DR.  A. 
BEIM,  CHAS. 
SLIMLINE,  B. 
BECHTEL,  GEO. 
BENDHEIM,  ADOLPH. 
BENDHEIM,  MEYER. 
BUSCHMANN,  C.  H. 
BABS,  REINHOLD. 
BLUM  HART,  C. 
BRINKMANN,  A.  H. 
BORN,  HERMAN. 
BAUERNSCHMIDT,  JR., 

JOHN. 

BECKER,  CHAS.  F. 
BECKER,  G.  W. 
BECKER,  Louis. 
BERSCH,  CARL. 
BRAND,  WM. 
BARTELL,  L.  E. 
BARTELS,  PHILIP. 
BARTELS,  GUSTAV  A. 
BRAFMAN,  A. 
BAETJER,  HENRY. 
BECK,  Louis. 
BENZINGER,  HARRY  M. 


BENNER,  OTTO. 
BINION,  DR.  A. 
BOCK,  CHARLES. 
Boss,  ROBT.  D. 
Boss,  G.  L. 
BLOME,  GEORGE  J. 
BODE,  G.  H. 
BROWN,  HENRY. 
BOLTE,  H. 
BLOCK,  EDW. 
BUBERT,  DR.  C.  H. 
BUTZLER.  CHAS. 
BAUERNSCHMDT,  JOHN. 
BERGMAN,  M. 
BREHM,  GEO. 
BRUNIER,  ALB.  F. 
BEELER,  C.  E. 
BLUMMER,  GEO. 
BRINK,  CARL. 
BUCHHOLTZ,  WM. 
BECKER,  JOHN  A. 
BECKER  BROS. 
BURKART,  REV.  N. 
BORN,  JOHN. 
BORST,  THEO.  L. 
BRAND,  WM. 
BRECHT,  Louis. 
BAUERNSCHMIDT,  JR., 

MRS.  JOHN. 
BERGNER,  WM. 
BOELKER,  MAX. 
BLOCK,  MEYER  HON. 
BAER,  HON.  THOMAS  S. 


Active,  1908. 

BADENHOOP,  HERMAN. 

BAETJER,   EDWIN   G. 

BARCLAY,  CAPT.  JOHN 
T. 

BAUERNSCHMDT,    FRED. 

BAUERNSCHMIDT,  JOHN 

BAUERNSCHMIDT,  WM. 

BECK,  JACOB. 

BECKER,  AUGUST  F. 

BECKER,  CHARLES  R. 

BEEHLER,  WM.  H. 

BENNET,  GEO.  \Y. 

BERGNER,   FREDERICK. 

BLANCK,  CONRAD  H. 

BLEDSOE,  ROBT.  L. 

BOEHM,  HERMAN. 

BOEMCKE,  HANS. 

BORCHERDING.  JOHN  D. 

BOEHMER,  FRANZ. 

BORING,  J.  HENRY. 

BORN,  HERMANN. 

BRACK,  CHAS.  E. 

BREHM,  HENRY  A. 

BREVES,  FRITZ. 

BRUENINGS,  EDMUND. 

BRUGGER,  ALBERT. 

BRUMSHAGEN,  J.  FRED- 
ERICK. 

BUCCHEISTER,  GEORGE. 

BUDNITZ,  EMIL. 

BUNNECKE,  GEORGE. 

BUNNECKE,  GEORGE  H. 

BUNNECKE,  WILLIAM 
G. 

BURY,  KITAN. 


BUSCHMANN,  VICTOR 
H. 

Deceased  or  Resigned 
from  1851  to  1908. 

COHEN,  DAVID  J. 
COHEN,  ISRAEL. 
COOK,   FRED. 
CRASE,  PETER  H. 
CROWNFIELD,  F. 
COHEN,  ISRAEL. 
COHEN,  MOSES. 
CUESCH,  W. 

CURLANDER,    B. 

CHRISTIAN  A. 
CATTUS,  J. 
CRAMER,  JOHN. 
CASPARI,  JR.,  CHAS. 
CAMPSEN,  H.  C. 

Active,  1908. 

CALLOW,  ENOCH  P. 
CLAUS,  E.  C. 
COOK,  JOHN. 
CHRIST,  PHILIP. 

Deceased  or  Resigned 
from  1851  to  1908. 

DANZIGER,  JULIUS. 
DEITZEN,  TH. 
DUKER,  OTTO. 
DRIVER,  MAX. 
DOBLER,  GUSTAV  A. 
DEUTSCH,  WM. 


DOLFIELD,  ALEX.  Y. 
DOERR,  EDWARD  F. 
DEIBEL,  G.  G. 
DEPKIN.  L. 
DEPKIN,  H. 
DRESEL,  F.  F. 
DIETER,  Louis  A. 
DIECK,  H.  W. 
DREY,  ELKAN. 
DENHARDT,  MRS.  E. 
DISTLER,  JOHN  C. 
DOBLER,  MRS.  G.  A. 

Active,  1908. 

DECKER,  ADOLPH  F. 
DEETJEN,  DR.  CHR. 
DEICHMANN,  DR.  ED. 
DIENER,  THEO.  H. 
DIERKSEN,  CHRIST. 
DIETRICH,  Louis  P. 
DIMLING,  GEO. 
DOBLER,  HON.  JOHN  J. 
DOETSCH,  Louis  J. 
DOHME,  CHAS.  E. 

DOHME,   LOUIS. 
DUGAN,   CUMBERL,  JR. 

Deceased  or  Resigned 
from  1851  to  1908. 

EVERSMANN,  FRED. 
EHLERS,  LUDWIG. 
ELENBROCK,  FR. 
EHRMANN,  LEWIS. 
EIGENBROT,  H. 
EM  MEL,  CONRAD. 


1 86 


HISTORY  OF  THE 


EULER,  FRED. 
EICHMAN,  J.  C. 

ElSENBRANDT,    W. 

EULER,   FRANZ. 
EVANS,  HARRY  G. 
EUKER,  WM. 
ELLINGER,  ISAAC. 

Active,  1908. 
ECK,  AUGUST. 

Deceased  or  Resigned 
from  1851  to  1908. 

FLAMM,  GEO. 
FRITZ,  CHS. 
FARBER,  H.  J. 
FRIESE,  C. 
FINK,  F.  \V. 
FAUST,  HEINRICH. 
FAUST,  JOHN. 
FORSTER,  GEO.  H. 
FRIEDENWALD,  Jos. 
FEUSS,  A.  C. 
FELBER,  SIMON. 
FRIEDRICH,  JOHN. 
FUCHS,  FRITZ. 
FARBER,  MARTIN. 
FUCHS,  PROF.  OTTO 
FISCHER,  L.  C. 
Foss,  JOHN  N. 
FISCHER,  HARRY. 
FISCHER,  CHARLES. 
FARBER,  EDWIN  J. 
FAUST,  CHAS.  H. 
FAUTH,  HENRY. 


FLYNN,  JAMES. 
FRENTZ,  HENRY. 
FRENTZ,  HENRY  A. 
FREYBE,  FKRD. 
FRIESE,  CHAS. 
FALTE,  FRANZ. 
FLORENZ,  FREDK. 


GUNTHER,  C.  W. 

GUNTHER,    L.    W. 

GOMBEL,  WM.,  M.  D. 
GENGNAGEL,  SR.,  J. 
GENGNAGEL,  JR.,  J. 
GLAESER,  CHAS. 
GEIGER,  JOSEPH. 


FRITSCH,  REV.  KARL  F.  GUIDER,  J.  CHAS. 
GMINDER,  JACOB. 


Active,  1908. 
FANKHANEL,  A.  L. 


GUTMAN,  JOEL. 
GRIMM,  HENRY. 
GARTHE  AUG. 


FAUST,   MRS.   CHRIS-     GUSTAVUS,   PETER. 


TINE. 
FEICK,  CHARLES. 


GRAUE,  EDW. 
GOSSWEILE  A.V.,M.  D. 


FELDNER,  FREDERICK  W.  GUNDERSDORFF,  C.  L. 
FIELD,  CHARLES  W,        GOTTSCHALK,  A. 
FILBERT,  ISAAC  S.  GREIBEL,  FREDK.  A. 

FISKE,  DR.  JOHN  D.      GENSO,  F.  G. 
FLORENZ,  F.  W.  GETZ,  JOHN. 

FLYNN  &  EMERICH  Co.    GODEY,  HARRY. 

FORTENBAUGH,   CHARLES  GlESIN,    AUG. 

FRANKE,  GEORGE.  GOETZKE,  JOHN  H. 

FRIEDENWALD,  JOSEPH. 

FURST,  FRANK  A.  Active,  1908. 


Deceased  or  Resigned 
from  1851  to  1908. 

GLATTUS,  PETER. 
GRAF,  FREDK.  C. 
GRASS,  JOHN  J. 
GUILDENER,  CHAS. 
GRAFF,  FRED. 
GERMAN,  W. 
GIFFHORN,  W. 
GROOSCOOVS,  H. 


GAIL,  GEO.  W.  JR. 
CANS,  EDGAR  H. 
GANTER,  F.  X. 
GEHRMANN,  CHARLES. 
GENSLER,  JOHN. 
GEYER,  EDWARD  C. 
GIESKE,  MRS.  GUSTAV. 
GLASER,  C. 

GOTTLIEB,  FREDERICK  H. 
GOTTSCHALK,  JOSEPH. 
GRECHT,  WILLIAM. 


GERMAN  SOCIETY  OF  MARYLAND 


187 


GUNTHER,  GEORGE. 
GUTMAN,  MRS.  JOEL. 

Deceased  or  Resigned 
from  1851  to  1908. 

HOLTHAUS,   F.   T. 

HlNTERNESCH,    M.    D. 

HEGEN,  F.  TH. 
HORWITZ,  F.  B.,  M.  D 

HOFFBAUER,  J.   H. 
HlRSCHFIELD,    E.    D. 

HAUSENWALD,  J.  H. 
HASSENCAMP,  FERD. 
HUNKEL,  PHILIP. 
HETT,  J. 
HASENBALG,  H. 
HORN,  THEO. 
HUXCKEL,  OTTO. 
HENIGEN,  A. 
HILBERT,  F.  H. 

HUNTEMILLER,    W. 

HELDMANN,  J.  A.,  M. 
D. 

HOLTZMANN,    W. 

HAVEN,  E. 
HENRICKS,   CHAS. 
HENRICKS,  CHRIST. 
HEISE,  WM. 
HEUBACH,  EDW. 
HOEN  ERNST. 
HOFFMANN,  CHAS.,  M. 

D. 

HOEN,  ALBERT. 
HECHT,  JACOB. 
HELLWIG,  JR.,  AUG. 


HAUSENWALD,  EDW. 
HEISER,   CHAS. 

HlRSCHBERG,  M.  H. 

HOENER,  ALBERT  S. 
HELLDORFER,  SEE. 
HERZBERG,  PHIL. 
HAUSCH,  GEO. 
HINRICHS,  THEO. 
HUBER,  REV.  EDW. 
HESSEMER,   CHAS. 
HOLTHAUS,  H.  C. 
HONIG,  MAX. 
HAX,  PETER. 
HOEN,  HENRY. 
HECHT,  EDW.  E. 
HAMBURGER,  H. 
HASENBALG,  ERNST. 
HARMAN,  S.  J. 
HOELLJES,  CAPT.  D. 
HENKLEMAN,  F.,  JR. 
HERRMANN,  JOHN  M. 
HERMAN,  JOHN   P. 
HUBNER,  JOHN. 
HELDRICH,  PHIL,  M.  D. 
HAUPT,  JACOB. 
HEISE,  MRS.  WM. 
HELLDORFER,  S.  &  SONS 

HOMRIGHAUSEN,     G. 
HOGENDORF,   C. 

HELL  MAN,  F.  F. 
HOFFMAN,  J.  LEONARD. 
HANSELMANN,    Louis. 

HOFMEISTER,    PAUL. 

HARTZ,  C.  VON. 

H.   H.    HOBELMANN. 


Active,  1908. 

HACK,  FREDERICK  H. 
HAFER,  GEORGE  J. 
HAMAN,  B.  HOWARD. 
HANNIBAL,  JOHN. 
HARIG,  AUGUST  H. 
HASSENKAMP,  ADOLPH. 
HASSFURTHER,  AUGUST 
HAUCK,  G.  F.  M. 
HAX,  GEORGE  A. 
HECHT,  A.  H. 
HEINEMANN,   FRED'K. 
HENNIGHAUSEN,  REV. 

F.  P. 
HENNIGHAUSEN,      L. 

KEMP. 

HENNIGHAUSEN,  L.  P. 
HEXXIGHAUSEN,  P.  C. 
HERZOG,  CHARLES. 
HESTER,  G.  Louis. 
HEUISLER,  HON.  CHAS. 

W. 

HlLGARTNER,    ANDREW. 
HlLGARTNER,   CHARLES 

L. 

HlLGENBERG,  CARL  C. 
HOILKEN,    H.    G. 

HILKEN,  PAUL  G.  L. 
HINRICHS,  JOHN. 

HlSKEY,   THOS.    FOLEY. 

HITE,  DRAYTON  M. 
HOBELMAN,  DR.  FRED. 
W. 

HOCHSCHILD,    KOHN    & 

Co. 


1 88 


HISTORY  OF  THE 


HOFFMAN,  FRED.  WM. 

HOFFMANN,  DR.  ROB- 
ERT. 

HOFFMANN,  REV.  JUL- 
IUS. 

HOMER,  CHAS.   C. 

HOMER,  CHAS.  C,  JR. 

Hoos,  JOHN. 

HORNICK,  JOHN  L. 

HOUFF,  GUSTAV. 

HULSHOFF,  JOHN  G. 

Deceased  or  Resigned 
from  1851  to  1908. 

INGDEN,    PETER. 
INTERRIEDEN,  JOSEPH. 
INGRAM,  JAMES  E. 
IMWOLD  &  MEHRING. 
ILLMER,  Louis. 

Deceased  or  Resigned 
from  1851  to  1908. 

JORDAN,  EDWARD. 
JOESTING,  H. 

JOESTING,   AUG. 

JANOWITZ,  S.  &  SON. 
Active,  1908. 

JOHANSEN,   PAUL. 
JUNKER,  FRANK. 


Deceased  or  Resigned 
from  1851  to  1908. 

KEUTGEN,  C.  H. 
KOCH,  H. 

KOPPELMAN,   J.    G. 
KOPPELMAN,   J. 

KEIDEL,  M.  D. 
KEIDEL,  L. 
KOCHLING,  WM. 
KEIDEL,  H.  H. 
KNABE,  ERNST. 
KREMELBERG,  J. 
KRETZER,  C. 
KOCH,  WM. 
KEYSER,  L.  P. 
KLEMM,  CHAS.  H. 
KOCHLERT,  HENRY. 
KNATZ,  PHIL. 
KAPPLER,  JOHN. 
KAMP,  ALBERT  S. 
KRAUS,  JACOB. 
KERKHOFF,  A.  H. 
KIEFER,  M. 
KNIPP,  GEO. 
KEMPER,  M. 
KOCH,  F.  W. 

KOETHER,   WM. 

KLEMPER,  HERM.  A. 
KLOCH,  WM. 
KUPER,  JOHN. 
KAM MERER,  P.  AUG. 
KING,  W.  G.  H. 


KLUG,  WM.  J. 
KUMLEHN,  H.  C.  W. 
KING,  JULIUS  C. 
KRIEL,  JOHN  T. 
KNOBLOCH,  E.  VON. 
KULL,  JOSEPH  VON, 

M.  D. 

KLEIM,  ALBERT  D.  of  J. 
KLEIBECKER,  BERND. 

Active,  1908. 

KAISER,  AUGUST  F. 

KAISER,  CHARLES. 

KAISER,  FERDINAND. 

KEIDEL,  CHARLES. 

KEIDEL,  HENRY. 

KIEFER,  MATTHIAS. 

KINEMUND,  FREDERICK 
C. 

KLEIN,  DANIEL  A. 

KLEIN,   JACOB. 

KLIER,  FREDERICK  C. 

KLIPPER,  F.  W. 

KNABE,  ERNEST  J.,  JR. 

KNABE,  WILLIAM. 

KNEFELY,  HENRY. 

KNOLLENBERG,  HER- 
MAN. 

KNOOP,  GEORGE  C. 

KNOOP,  JOHN  F. 

KNOOP,  Louis. 

KOEHLERT,  HERMANN. 


GERMAN  SOCIETY  OF  MARYLAND 


189 


KOOKE,  GERHARD  F. 
KOPPELMAN,    CHARLES 

H. 

KRAFT,  CHARLES. 
KRANZ,  G.  FRED. 
KREKEL,  HUBERT. 
KRUG,  JOHN  G. 
KRUG,  THEODORE  F. 
KiiHLE,  EMIL. 
KUMMER,  ARNOLD. 
KURTS,  JOHN  B. 

Deceased  or  Resigned 
from  1851  to  1908. 

LOGEMANN,    H. 

LANDES,  E. 
LEHMAN,  E.  D.  G. 
LURMAN,  JOHN. 
LURMAN,  G.  W. 
LANGFELD,  H. 
LUYTER,  H. 
LEMKE,  M. 
LANGE,  H. 
LANGHILD,  G.  F. 
LIPPS,  CHRISTOPHER, 
L'ALLEMAND,  CHAS. 
LAUBHEIMER,  W. 
LEIST,  FRED. 
LEYH,  E.  F. 
LIEBIG,  G.,  M.  D. 
LEHMANN,  CHAS.  C. 
LITTIG,  JOHN  M. 
LORZ,  JOHN. 
LETZER,  JOSEPH. 
LUDWIG,  THEO. 
LIEDLICH,  GEO. 

LOHMEYER,    WM.   H. 


LOGERMAN,  HENRY  C. 
LEONHARDT,  WM. 
LAHUSEN,  F.  W. 
LOWENSTEIN,  L. 
LANG,  LEONH. 
LOEBER,  JOHN. 
LOWENTHAL,  ISIDOR. 

LUTZ,  WvM. 

LINDAUER,  CHRISTIAN. 
LUERSEN,  CHAS.  C.  & 

SON. 

LEHMAN,  JULIUS. 
LANAHAN,  WM. 
LOESER,  AUG. 

Active,  1908. 

LANG,  ADAM. 
LATROBE,  HON.   FERD. 

C. 

LAUBER,  JOHN  P. 
LAUBHEIMER,  WILLIAM 
LEHR,  ROBERT,  JR. 
LEIMBACH,  GEBHARD. 
LENTZ,  FREDERICK. 
LERIAN,  JACOB. 
LESER,  HON.  OSCAR. 

LlEBERKNECHT,  CHAS. 

LIPPS,  FREDERICK  W. 
LOCHER,  REV.  C.  W. 
LUDERITZ  CARL  A. 

Deceased  or  Resigned 
from  1851  to  1908. 

MEYER,  B. 
MEINECK,  C. 
MULLER,   AUG. 


MYER,  G.  A. 
MAYER,  CHRIS.  L. 
MEYER,  D.  H. 
MOTZ,  FERDINAND. 
MAYLANDER,  H. 
MESSERSMITH,  JACOB. 
MESSERSCHMIDT,  CHAS. 
MAYER,  G.  H. 
MAYER,  C.  F.  of  Louis. 
MORITZ,  J.  D. 
MARBURG,  CHAS.  L. 
MATHIEU,  C.  F.,  M.  D. 
MEYER,  CHAS  F. 
MUNDER,   THEO. 
MUTH,  JOHN. 
MARR,  JHON. 
MILSKE,  CHAS. 
MAIER,  J.  G. 
MORMAN,  W.  H. 
MENGEL,  JOHN  G. 
MUTH,  M.  Jos. 
MATTHAI,  JOHN  C. 
MULLER,  ANDREW. 
MATTHES,  JACOB  H. 
MANN,  HARRY  E. 
MERZ,  HENRY. 
MERGENTHALER,  O. 
MEHLER,  MRS.  HELENE. 
MAIBERG,  JOHN. 
MAYER,  CHAS.   F. 
MALLEBRE,  HENRY. 

Active,  1908. 

MAAG,  AUGUST. 
MALCHOW,  OTTO. 
MARBURG,  ALBERT. 
MARBURG,  THEODORE. 


190 


HISTORY  OF  THE 


MARBURG,  WILLIAM  A. 
MATTHEISZ,  JOHN  H. 
MAYER,  FREDERICK  J. 
MEISLAHN,  CHAS.  F. 
MEISSEL,  WILLIAM. 
MENTZEL,  ALBERT  W. 
MEYER,  ADOLPH  C. 
MEYER,  DR.  CHAS.  H. 

A. 

MEYER,  FERDINAND. 
MEYER,  JOHN  D. 
MEYERDIRCK,  MARTIN. 
MICKLICH,  HERM. 

MlDDENDORF,  J.   WM. 

MILLER,  GEORGE. 
MUELLER,  FREDERICK. 
MUELLER,  Louis. 
MULLER,  Louis. 
MUNTER,  BERNHARD. 
MYER,  DR.  BERNHARD. 

Deceased  or  Resigned 
from  1851  to  1908. 

NOELLE,  CHARLES. 
NIEMANN,  E. 
NUMSEN,  G.  W. 

NOLTING,    C. 
NlCOLAI,   H. 

NICKEL,  G.  C. 
NELKER,  ADAM  H. 
NELKER,  JOHN  F. 
NEURATH,  JOHN. 
NEUHAUS,  CHAS. 
NEUDECKER,  L.  H. 


Active,  1908. 

NlEDERHOEFER,  JOHN. 

NITZE,  CHARLES. 
NITZEL,  HENRY  M. 

Deceased  or  Resigned 
from  1851  to  1908. 

OSTERTON,  W. 
OCHS,  W. 
OELMAN,  FRED. 
OEHM,  CHAS.  H. 
ORR,  W.  L. 
ORTWINE,  WM. 

Active,  1908. 

OBST,  ADAM. 
OEHM,  F.  W. 
OHLMEYER,  AUG.  J. 
OHRENSCHALL,  F.  A. 
ORTMULLER,  JOHN. 

Deceased  or  Resigned 
from  1851  to  1908. 

PRACHT,  CHAS. 
PIETSCH,  O. 
PRIOR,  ED.  A. 
PRIOR,  GUSTAV. 
PLACK,  JACOB. 
PAGELS,  G.  H. 
PETZOLD,  Louis. 
PETZOLD,  R.  T. 


POEPPLEIN,  GEO.  JR. 
POLINGER,  FRED.  R. 
PFEIL,  AUG. 
PLITT,  GEO. 
PELS,  MOSES. 
PISTEL,  GEO.  H. 
PAUSCH,  MRS.  LOUISA. 
PEUSS,  CHAS. 
PRIOR,  Louis. 
PEMSEL,  GEORGE. 

Active,  1908. 

PACKHAM,  WILLIAM 

A.  T. 

PIRSCHER,  WILLIAM  F. 
PLATT,  HERMAN   S. 
PRECHTEL,  GEORGE  F. 

Active,  1908. 
QUITT,  MAX  H. 

Deceased  or  Resigned 
from  1851  to  1008. 

REITZ,  H.  L. 
REICHL,  C. 
ROSEVVIG,   WILLIAM. 
ROGGE,  C. 
RUDOLPH,  JACOB. 
RUHL,  C. 

RADDATZ,  PROF.  CHAS. 
F. 

ROEHLE,  L.  C. 


GERMAN  SOCIETY  OF  MARYLAND 


191 


ROTHER,  L.   C. 

RUDOLPH,  Cuxo  H. 
ROMER,  HEINRICII. 
ROEDER,  AUGUST. 
RIEHL,  CAPT.  CHAS. 
ROSEN  FELD,  S.  &  Co. 
REIMERS,  H. 
RICKERT,  WM.,  M.  D. 
REUTER,  CHAS. 
RAIBER,  JOSEPH. 
RALEIGH,  W.  A. 
RADECKE,  J.  D. 
RENNERT,  ROBT. 
REQUARDT,  J.  FRED. 
RAUSCH,  GEO. 
RAYMAN,  PAUL  O. 
REITZ,  LEWIS  H. 
RAHE,.CHAS.  M. 
REIER,  HENRY. 
RUSSEGGER,  BERNH. 
ROEHM,  HERMAN. 
REICHE,  ROBT.  J. 
RINGSDORF  &  HAUFF. 

Active,  1908. 

RABBE,  CONRAD  C. 

RADECKE  BROS. 

RAINE,   EDWARD. 

RANFT,  Louis  P. 

RAUSCHENBERG,  HER- 
MAN. 

REINHARD,  DR.  FERDI- 
NAND. 

REMMERS,  HENRY  G. 

REQUARD,  JOHN  M. 

REULING,  DR.  GEO. 


RIEBESEHL,  HENRY. 
RIPPEL,  HENRY  S. 
ROLKER,  JOHN  G. 
ROSCHEN,  HERM.  D. 
ROTHER,  ROBERT  M. 
RiiHL,  CONRAD  &  SON. 
RUHSTRAT,  HENRY. 
RUHSTRAT,  CARL. 

Deceased  or  Resigned 
from  1851  to  1908. 

SIMON,  M. 
SIMON,  A. 
SCHWARTZ,   B. 
SCHWARTZ,  L.  VON. 
SCHWARTZ,  J. 
SCHWARTZ,  HENRY. 
STALFORT,  FRED. 
SEMKE. 

SCHUERMANN,  H. 
SOHNS,  CHAS. 
SATTLER,  WM. 
SAUERBERG,  J.  D. 
SCHUTT,  CHR. 
SAM  MAN,  D. 
STOLTZE,  H.  E. 
SIEBERT,  ED. 
SCHULTZ,  A.  H. 
SCHULTZE,  H.  F. 
SCHUERMAN,  A. 
SEEGER,  JACOB. 

SCHAER,    W. 

SCHNEIDER,  MARTIN. 
SEEMULLER,  J.  R. 
SUTRO,  EMIL. 
SUTRO,  OTTO. 


STROMBERG,  H. 
SCHLENS,  ADOLPH. 
SCHLENS,  F. 
SCHNEIDER,  GEO. 
SPILKER,  CHAS.  JR. 
STAUFF,  FREDERICK. 
STEFFENS,  CAPT.  HENRY 
SALZER,  H.,  M.  D. 

SOMMERFELD,  JOHN. 

SCHILLER,  WM.  C. 

SCHNAUFFER,  WM. 
SCHAUR,    C. 

STALLMANN,  WM. 
SANDER,  H. 
SCHEU,   WM. 
SIEBERT,  CHRIST. 
SCHULZ,  H.  A. 
SCHULZE,  FERDINAND. 
SCHULTZE,  HUGO  T. 
SCHULZ,  C.  F.  E. 
SCHULZE,  WM.  THEO. 
SCHULTZ,  WALTER. 
SCHULTZE,  WM. 
SCHRADER,  AUG. 
STOFFREGEN,  KARL. 
SCHNEIDEREITH,  C.  W. 
SAMSTAG,  H. 
STRAUSS,  L. 
STRAUSS,   SOL. 
STRAUSS,  Jos.   H. 
STAHLFORT,  D. 
STREICHENBERG,  ALBERT 
A. 

SCHERER,    WM. 

SATTLER,  EDW. 
SATTLER  &  Co. 
STAEBLEIN,  THEO. 


192 


HISTORY  OF  THE 


SAVAGE,  GEO. 
STELLMAN,  JOHN. 
SEEMULLER,  WILLIAM. 
SCHNEIDER,  Louis. 
STEIN,  SAMUEL. 
STINE,  JOSEPH. 
SCHNEYDTER,  G. 
SCHMIDT,  CHRIST. 
SCHMIDT,  HEINRICH. 
STEINMETZ,  WM.,  M. 

D. 
SLINGLUFF,  FRANK,  M. 

D. 

SlEMERS,   H.  F. 

STIEFF,  CHAS.  M. 
SLINGLUFF,  CHAS.  B. 
SCHMIDT,  H.  D. 
SCHMIDT,    PETER. 
SMITH,  B.  F. 
SCHMIDTBORN,  EMIL. 
SCHOTT,  S.   P. 
SCHROEDER,  HENRY  A. 
STRUKMAN,  HARRY. 
SCHAEFER,  H. 
SCHELLER,  ERNST. 
SCHLEGEL,  HENRY. 
SIEGEL,  JOHN  M. 
SIMON,  CHARLES,  JR. 
SMYSER,  JAMES  A. 
SCHAD,  FRED. 
SPANHAKE,  H. 
SCHNEPFE,  JOHN  H. 
STIEBRITZ,  GOTTLIEB. 
STENKEN,  DANL.  CAPT. 
STUEDE,  WM. 
SCHAPIRO,  MAX,  M.  D. 


SOMMERWERCK,    DAN- 
IEL. 

SCHROEDER,  MRS.  HER- 

MINE. 

STEPHAN,  SIEGMUND. 
STAHLFORT,  JOHN  C. 
SUCRO,  GEO.  C. 
SCHEIDT,  FREDK. 
SCHULER,  MARTIN. 
SCHLEIFER,  JOS.  E. 
STERNBERG,  KURT  RU- 
DOLPH. 

SEIDEWITZ,  ED\V.  A. 
STARVE,  RICHARD,  REV. 
SEBALD,  J.  F.,  M.  D. 
SHYMER,  H.  CARHART. 

Active,  1008. 

SALZER,  ERNEST  T. 
SANDER,  ERNST. 
SANDER,  GEORGE  A. 
SANGMEISTER,    RU- 
DOLPH. 

SATTLER,  G.  WILLIAM. 
SAUTER,  WILLIAM. 
SCHAUB,  FRANCIS  J. 
SCHAUB,    OTTO. 
SCHIRM,HON.  CHAS.  R. 
SCHLENS,  GUSTAV  A. 
SCHLEUNES,  FRANCIS 
SCHLEUNES,  HENRY. 
SCHMALZ,  LOUIS  N. 
SCHMEISSER,  ERNST. 
SCHMIDT,  CHARLES  R. 
SCHNEIDER,  CHARLES. 


SCHNEIDER,   FREDERICK 
F. 

SCHNEIDEREITH,    LOUIS 

C. 

SCHNEIDEREITH,  MRS. 
MARIA  M. 

SCHOLTZ,  KARL  A.  M. 

SCHUMACHER  &  FORE- 
MAN. 

SCHUMANN,   PAUL. 

SEEGER,   PAUL  A. 

SEEMAN,  FREDERICK  C. 

SELLMAN,  JAMES  L. 

SHRYOCK,  THOMAS  J. 

SIEGAEL,  SAMUEL. 

SIEGMUND,  GUSTAV. 

SIMON,  DR.  WILLIAM. 

SNYDER,  HENRY. 

SOMMERWERCK,     Ru-.. 

DOLPH. 

SPAMER,  C.  AUGUSTUS 

E. 
SPIEKER,  DR.  EDWARD. 

H. 

SPILMAN,  CHARLES. 
STEIN,  CHARLES  F. 
STEINER,   HUGO. 
STERGER,     REV.     A. 

FRIEDRICH. 

STIEFF,  FREDERICK  P. 
STISSER,  G.  W. 
STRAUS,  Jos.  H. 
STRAUS,  W.   L. 
STROHMER,  JOHN. 
STROTT,  JOHN  C. 
STURM,  W.  A. 


GERMAN  SOCIETY  OF  MARYLAND 


193 


Deceased  or  Resigned   ULMAN,  A.  J. 
from  1851  to  1908.      UZUBER,  JOHN. 


TOEL,  CHAS. 
TREUSCH,  A. 
TESTORF,  JAMES  H. 
TESTORFF,  F. 
THOMAS,  J.  H. 
THOMAS,  H. 
THIES,  J. 
THIES,  JOHN  H. 
TIECK,  HEIXRICH  C. 
THAU,    FRANZ. 
TORSCH,  FRED.  A. 
TORSCH,  E.  L. 
TEXTOR,  ANTOX. 
TOLLE,   H. 
TURNER,  J.  J. 
TURNER,  L.  J. 
TOMZ,  C.  B. 

Active,  1908. 

THOMAS,  HENRY. 
THOMAS,  JOHN  HENRY, 
THURN,  HERBERT  J. 
TJARKS,  JOHN. 
TRAPPE,  AUG.  F. 

Deceased  or  Resigned 
from  1851  to  1908. 

UHRLAUB,  HERMAN. 
UHRIG,  JOHN. 
ULRICH,  F.  W. 
ULLRICH,  JOHN. 
UNVERZAGT,  GEO.  B. 
UMBACH,  GEO.  W. 


Active,  1908. 
UHLIG,  J.  KONRAD. 

Deceased  or  Resigned 
from  1851  to  1908. 

VOLKMAN,  G. 

VONEIFF,  J. 
VOGEL,  J.  R. 

VOGEL,  PHIL  R. 
VOGLER,  JEROME. 
VORHAUER,  WM. 
VEES,   HENRY. 
VOLZ,  JOHN. 
VON  KAPFF,  H. 
VON  COLLEN,  J.  C. 
VONDERHORST,  H.  R. 
VONDERHORST,    H. 

HERM. 
VON  LINGEN,  GEO.  A. 

Active,  1908. 

VOCKE,  HENRY  B. 
VON  HARTZ,  CARL. 
VON  HEINE,  HENRY  G. 
VON  MAREES,  HANS. 

Deceased  or  Resigned 
from  1851  to  1908. 

WEIL,   GEO. 
WAGNER,  PHIL. 
WAGNER,  CASPAR. 


WOLFF,  ALEX. 
WIDDEKIND,  HENRY. 
WEHRHANE,  H. 
WIRTH,  CHARLES. 
WILKENS,  W.  W. 

WlLKENS,   H. 

WILKENS,  J.  C. 
WILKENS,  WM. 
WENTZ,  J.  B. 
WEGELEIN,  A. 
WEBER,  JUSTUS. 
WEGNER,  J.  H. 
WEGNER,  A.,  M.  D. 
WEHRKAMP,  L. 
WERNEBURG. 
WEHRHANE,  KARL. 
WANNEWEISCH,  CHAS 
WEHR,  FREPK. 
WENCK,  E.  E. 

WlNKLEMAN,    J.    H. 

WIESSNER,  JOHN  F. 
WIENER,  MORRIS,  M. 

D. 

WILMS,  CHAS. 
WEIL,  ALBERT. 
WILLE,  CHAS. 
WEYFORTH,  B. 
WAGNER,  B.  L. 
WATTENSCHEIDT, 

EWALT. 
WALPERT,  F. 
WEIDEMAN,  T. 
WENZING,  O. 
WESSEL,  HENRY. 
WEISE,  EDW.  H. 
WEAVER,  WM.  H. 
WENDLER,  JOHN. 
WEILBACHER,   PAUL. 


194 


THE   GERMAN  SOCIETY  OF  MARYLAND 


WIENCKE,  A.  G. 
WIESEL,  JOHN  M. 
WACKERHAUSEN,  WM. 

G. 

WACHTER,  FRANK  C. 
WHALEN,  FRANK. 
WIEGAND,  CHAS. 
WEIGAND,  PHIL. 
WARNER,  C.  HOPEWELL 
WEHRENBERG,   F. 
WILHELM,  L.  R. 
WIENER,  CHAS.  J. 
WITTE,  F. 

Active,  1908. 

WaHMANN,  JOHN  H. 
WAGNER,  GEORGE  L. 


WATTENSCHEIDT, 

CHRIST.  R. 
WATTENSCHEIDT,  R. 
WEBER,  AUGUST. 
WEBER,  CHARLES,  JR. 
WEBER,  F.  H. 
WEGNER,  JULIUS. 
WEHE,   ALFRED. 
WEHR,  AUGUST. 
WEHR,  HARRY. 
WEHR,  MRS.  JOHANNA. 
WEIKEL,  WILLIAM. 
WEIL,  Louis. 
WEISSKITTEL,  ANTON, 

JR. 

WENZING,  HERMAN. 
WEYFORTH,  PHILIP. 
WEYLER,  JOHN  F. 


WIEMAN,  LEOPOLD  H. 
WIESSNER,  GEORGE  F. 
WIESSNER,  HENRY  F. 

WlLKENS,  REIN  HARD. 
WlNDFELDER,  GEORGE. 
WlSCHMEYER,  EDWARD. 

WITTMER.  MICHAEL. 
WOLF,  HENRY  J. 
WOLFF,  OSCAR. 

Deceased  or  Resigned 
from  1851  to  1-908. 

ZUCKERSCHWERDT,  H. 
ZEUL,  CONRAD. 
ZEUL,  JOHN. 
D.  ZIVERMANN,  THEO. 
ZELLER,  EMIL  H. 
ZIES,  CHARLES. 


INDEX. 


Act  of   Incorporation 72 

Acts,  Relative  to  German  Redemptioners 74 

Agents,   Shipping  Redemptioners 17 

Agent,    of   Society 121 

Agent,  Report  of 166 

Ahl,  Dr.  John  Peter 42 

Alrichs,    Herman 48,  54 

Amelung,  John  F.  L 40,  60,  61,  73 

Ameltmg,  F.  L.  E 46,  61,    73 

Amigh,    Peter 48 

Amich,  Col.  Henry 55 

Astor,  John  Jacob 45 

Ax,   Christian 119,  132,  133,  135 

Bader,  Capt.  Dominik 55 

Baer,  Capt.  Jacob 55,  61 

Baer.  Dr.  Jacob 61 

Baltimore  Town,   1750 37 

Battle  of  North  Point 55 

Brantz,    Louis 46,  60,  61,  73 

Banquet,  The  First 7° 

Banquets    161 

Banquet,  I25th  Anniversary 163 

Bleeker,  Capt,  Proceedings  Against 64 

Brauns,    F.    L 93,99,102 

Benzinger,   Col.   Mathies 100,108,120 

Beltzhoover's    Hotel 9* 

Brehm,  Geo XS7 

Bixler,    David 48 

Broenings    Boys,  Case  of 66,  80 

Bodenwerber  Johann,  Case  of 77 

Boehm,  Charles  C 99,  102,  115 

Brown,   Hon.   Geo.   Wm in 


196  INDEX 

Butler  vs.  Boardman,  Case  of 14 

Brune,   F.  W 46,  60,  93,  104,  106,  115 

Brune,  F.  W.  Jr., 100,  122 

Brune,   Col.    F.   W 132,  133,  146,  154,  156 

Busshman,  Victor 133 

Books,  German,   Published 47 

Calvert,    Cecilius,    Gov.,    Letter   of 16,  17 

Charity   Organization    Society 148 

Contract,  Shipping  Redemptioners 19 

Cole,    Geo 45 

Cronmiller,    Philip 54 

Cohen,    Benj.    J 60,  98,  106,  108 

Cohen,  J.  J 60,  93,  108 

Cohen,    Israel 98,  99,  115,  116,  117,  119 

Commutation  Money  Paid  by  Immigrants 94,  96,  97 

Committee   on    Membership 87 

Convicts    101,  108 

Conrad,  Julius 133 

Cruse,    Peter   Hoffman 84,  90 

Churches,   German 47 

Cumberland,  Agent  at 109 

Davis,    Solomon,   Letter   to 67 

Decker,    Geo 49,  SO,  54 

Diffenderfer,  Dr.  Michael 48,  50,  51,  60 

Diffenderfer,  Peter 49,  50,  51 

Diffenderfer,   Daniel SO,  54 

Diffenderfer,   Chas 93 

Dobler,    John 48 

Dohme,    Louis 134 

Donations  and  Bequests 168 

Dutch  Shipping  Contracts  of  Red 17 

Dukehart,   Heinrich 48 

Eden,  Gov.,  Letter  to  Lord  Dartmouth 36 

Eichelberger,    Jesse 60,  61 

Eckel,    Philip    P 73 

Eiseln,    Fried 48 


INDEX 


197 


Emich,    Nic. 48 

Etting,    Samuel 46,  54,  60,  99,  102,  104 

Executive    Committee 159 

Famine,  of  1816-1818 56 

Fauth,    Ernst 48 

French  Benevolent  Society  148 

Frick,    Peter 48,  49 

Frick,  John  60 

Frick,    John    F 60,  61 

Frick,  William  60,  61,  73,  82,  86,  89 

Frick,   Wm.   F 109,  132 

Friese,  John  H 46 

Friese,   John    F 60,  61 

Friedenwald,    Jos 134 

Fonerden,    Adam 48,  49,  54 

Fusselbach,  Johann    48 

Fuchs,   Prof.   Otto 157 

Frey,    Samuel    49 

Gail,  Geo.   W 152,  157 

German  Churches,  First 37,  50 

German  Newspapers  in  1796 41 

German    Military    in    1776—1812 45,  54 

Germania    Club    106,  107 

German  Hospital    109 

Gerock,  Samuel 45 

Gold,  Peter  48,  54 

German  Books  Published  in  Baltimore  1795  to  1802 47 

German  Printing,  First  in  Baltimore 38 

Hager,    Jonathan    3° 

Hasselbach.   Nicholas    38 

Haubert,    Capt 48,  55 

Hammer,  Aug 73 

Hassencamp,  Ferd "5,  "9,  133 

Hennighausen,  L.  P 124,  133,  134,  138,  146,  163 

Hering,  Louis   48,  49,  54 

Heinze,  Dr.  F.  E.  B 93,  100 


198  INDEX 

Hilken,  H.  G 132,  134 

Heinrichs,    John    134,  159 

Hilgenberg,   Chas 134 

Hibernian  Society   141,  148,  162 

Hoffman,    Peter 48,  49 

Hoffman,   David    48,  60,  61,  73,  82,  90 

Hoffman,  Jacob   50,  52 

Hoffman,  Johann   60 

Hoppe,  Justus   48,  60,  92 

Hoogewerff,  J.  J 93 

Hospital,  German  119 

Hospital,   Md.    Gen 153 

Huber,  Rev.  Edward  157 

Incorporation  of  Society  72 

Immigrants'  Commutation  Money  94,  95,  96,  97 

Interpreter,  German  at  Courts 106 

Intelligence  Bureau   no 

Juforow  Johanna,  Ship   57,  64,  65 

Jacobsen,  Henry  G 87 

Kaminsky's  Hotel  70 

Kalteisen,  Capt.  Michael 31 

Karthaus,  Peter  A 48 

Karthaus,    Chas.   W> 60,  92 

Keerl,    Dr.    Henry 42,  46,  48 

Keeport,    (Kuhbord)    Joe    P 45,  49 

Keeport,  Capt.  Jacob  48 

Keilholtz,  Wm 48 

Krebs,    Wm 48,  60,  73 

Keller,  Christian    48,  54 

Keener,  Melchoir 51 

Knefely,  Henry  134 

Keerl,    Samuel    60,  76,  93 

Knott,  Jacob  Adolph 48 

Kimmel,   Michael    46,  60,  73 

Kurtz,   Ed 93 


INDEX  199 

Labadists   56 

Laws  of  Maryland,  Printed  in  German 39 

Laws    Relative    to    German    Redemptioners 74 

Laws  Relative  to  Commutation  Money 94,  96 

Lauts,   Henry    134,  158 

Ladies'   Bazaar    153 

Letters  of  Christ  Mayer 67,  69,  82,  83,  86 

Lentz,   Chas.   W no,  1 18,  122 

Leypold,    Fred    46,  54,  73 

Lindenberger,  John 45 

Littig,  Philip    48 

List  of  Members  at  1783  and  1817 171 

List  of  Officers 174 

List  of  Counselors 175 

List  of  Physicians 175 

List   of   Managers 176 

List  of  Members,  1817-1908 178-194 

Louisiana,  Laws  of 28 

Lohr,  John 45 

Lorman,  Wm 46,  49,  54 

Lurman,  G.  W 115. 

Maryland  Laws,  as  to  Redemptioners 8 

Maryland  Laws,  Intermarriage  with  Negro  Slaves n,  13 

Maryland  Laws,  Punishment  of  Redemptioners 15 

Maryland  Laws,  Printed  in  General 39 

Maryland  Staats  Register 41' 

Maryland  General  Hospital 153 

Mackenheimer,    Peter 45 

Mackenheimer,  Col.  John 45.  48.  55 

Mayer,  Chas.  F 60,  94,  107 

Mayer,  Lewis  6° 

Mayer,  Christian 45,  60,  65,  72,  82,  83,  86,  89 

Mayer,    Brantz 45,  106 

Mayher's,  Otto  Case 12°,  130,  131 

Medtart,   Gen.   J Io6 

Meyer,  A.  C 135,  138,  139,  159 

Meyers,  Christian 45 


2oo  INDEX 

Meyer,    Fred 5° 

Meyer,  Jacob 5° 

Miller,    John 45 

Miller,  Jacob 55 

Middendorf,  Wm 134 

Michael,  Wendel 48 

Mueller,  Sallie  The  White  Slave 21 

Mueller,  Daniel 23,  24 

Numsen,  Wm 1 10,  1 18,  119 

Nitze,  C 115 

Nieman,  Eberhard 122,  132,  134,  137  157 

Otterbein,  Rev.   Phil.  Wm 37,  50 

Ober,    Jacob no,  114 

Orphan  Asylum,  Gen.  Ger 1 18 

Oyster  Dredgers 124,  125,  12; 

Oyster  Dredgers,  Maryland  Laws 133.  134 

Oyster  Dredgers,  United  States  Laws 149,  150 

Patriots   6 

Pennsylvania,  German  Society  of 29 

Peters,  Capt.  Michael 55 

Paupers   104 

Prima,  The  Emigrant  Ship 78,  79,  85 

Pomp,  Rev.  M 50 

Redemptioners,  *of  all  Nationalities 5 

Redemptioners,  Definition  of 7,    8 

Redemptioners,  Laws  and  Customs  of  Maryland 8 

Redemptioners,  Price  of,  in  1672 9 

Redemptioners,  Intermarriage  with  Negro  Slaves II 

Redemptioners,  Runaways 15 

Redemptioners,    German 16 

Redemptioners,  Shipping  Contracts 17 

Redemptioners,  Died  on  Ocean  Voyage 20.  22 

Raborg,  Wm 48,  49 

Raine,  Fred no,  1 18,  137 


INDEX  201 

Reil,    Conrad 48 

Reformed,  First  German  Church 51 

Register  of  German  Emigrants 76 

Reuling,  Dr.  Geo 1 19 

Redemptioners  in  Baltimore 58 

Redemptioners  For  Sale  in  Baltimore 59,  60 

Ridgely,  Chas.  Jr.,  Letter  to 68 

Rother,  Robt.  M 135,  138,  139,  156,  159 

Rose,  John  C 150,  151 

Rudolph,  Jacob 135 

Sale  of  Redemptioners 62 

Staats  Register  of  Maryland 41,  42 

Sauer,   Samuel,  Printer 47 

Sauerwein,   Peter 48,  60,  61 

Small,  Jacob 48,  49,  6 1 

Sadtler,  Capt.  Ph.  B 55,  60 

Schwerdf eger,    Rev.    Sam 9 

Schroeder,   Heinrich 46,  54,  60,  61 

Schryock,  Michael 48 

Schley,  Jacob 48 

Schroeder,  Wm 48 

Schwatka,  Aug 48 

Schirm,  Capt.  John 48,  49,  58 

Schwartzman,  Capt.  Daniel 48 

Schaeff er,   Babzar 49,  55 

Schaeff er,   Fred 49,  54 

Schwarzauer,  Capt.  Dan 55 

Schulz,  Conrad 60,  61,  76,  88 

Schwartz,  Dr.  A.  J 60,  61,  88 

Schwartzkopf,  Jos 88 

St.  Andrews   Society 144,   148,  162 

Sailer,   Margaret,   Case   of in 

Schnebly,  Dr 70 

Sharp,  Gov.  Report  of  Baltimore,  1/54 37 

Steever   (Stoever),  Capt.  Geo 48,  55 

Stauffer,  Henry 49,  54 

Steiger,    Andrew S1 


2O2  INDEX 

Strieker,  Gen.  John 48,  55,  60,  61  90 

Starke,   Chas 92 

Stoffels  Case 82 

Stroble,  John  P 93,  99,  100,  102 

St.  George  Society 141,  148,  162 

Steffens,  Capt.  Henry 157 

Steenken,   Capt.   Daniel 157 

Schepeler,  Fred 112,  155 

South  Carolina  German  Society 30 

Spilker,  Chas.  W 100,  102 

Seemuller,  John  R 122 

Schmeisser,  Ernst 134,  135,  136,  156 

Schumacher,  Albert 93,  98,  106,  1 19 

Snyder,  John 49 

Tegtmeyer,  Aug 48 

Tegtmeyer,  Ludwig 48 

Thomson,  Lorenz 48,  61,  73,  76,  86 

Trust,  Jacob 118,  119 

Tieck,  Heinrich  C 134,  139,  142,  143,  146,  154 

Treasurer,  Report  of 165 

Uhler,    Erasmus 48 

Von  Kapff,  J.  B.  Ansbach 46 

Von  Kapff,  B.  J 60 

Vocke,  Claas 106,  119,  120,  124,  132,  157 

Von  Kapff,  Herman 115-119 

Von  Lingen,   Geo.  A 134 

Warner,    Geo 48-49 

Warner,  Michael 48 

Warner,  Capt.  Thomas 55 

Warner,   Wm 49 

War  of  1812-14 54 

Waesche,  Fred 60-61 

Wiesenthal,  Dr.  Carl  Fred 40,  41,  44 


INDEX  203 

Wiesenthal,   Dr.  Andrew 41,  42 

Wegner,  Dr.  Aug 106 

Weber,  Jr.,  Chas 135,  137,  138,  139,  158 

Winter  Heinrich 48 

Weishampel,  Christian   48 

Wintclos'    Hotel    88 

Williamson's  Hotel 88 

Wilkens,  H 115,  118 

Wellinghof,  H.  F 114  122,  123 

Woerschler,    Moritz    (Teacher) 37 

Woelper,     Geo 49,  54 

Wolff,  Dr.  John  Geo 61-63 

Wolff,  Alex 118 

Wolff,    Oscar 134,  154 

Zion    Church,    German    Lutheran 37,  40,  52 

Zollikoffer,  Dr.  Wilhelm ' 42 

Zollikoffer,  John  Conrad 43 


